#I wanna still edit or redo some of them but at some point I had to stop myself- this is suppose to be just for fun | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wowzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa · 11 months

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this is a short(?) story i wrote about an alternate universe in which europe doesn’t exist. you might like it <3

oh btw i make music with my friends, u wanna check it out? itjustwontdie.bandcamp.com

Heartworm 2023 / Cancer In America (FINAL VERSION)

CLASSIC EDITION - REDO

my first story rewritten for apparently the fourth time. but i can tell. this one’s the keeper. mostly bc a lot of generations ii and iii are just edited versions of the 2022 ones but whatevs lmao enjoyyyyyyy ✨✨✨💀😭😭✋🏼✋🏼🍠🍠👢👢👢👍👍👍❤️❤️💖💖😂😂😂😂💖💖😂😂💖😂😂💖😂😂😢😂😂😨

——————

PRELUDE …AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

Let me take you back to March 1927, in a small town in Germany, nowadays called List. All the residents currently living there were gifted, or perhaps cursed, by the birth of a wonderful baby, a son to a young couple trying to make their way through life. This boy was a very special boy and had all his chances to do whatever he wanted as a child, but stayed with the rules and the rules only. Did this truly benefit him or, like, anyone? Find this out for yourself.

At the age of two, he got a job as the spokesman of a nearby toy factory called “SpaßZeit”. It was founded and run by two elderly-aged brothers, Karl and Leon. This company was very famous in West Europe but if you weren’t in that specific area in that specific time period, you won’t have heard about them.

At the time young Konnor got this job, underwater, close to a volcano near a Sicilian village, another baby boy was born, brought to consciousness in an abandoned sea-ville. This boy, soon to be called Oscar, got onto land at around one year of age. He says he doesn’t remember much of the rest of his history, but other times when asked, he’ll go silent, avert his eyes, and leave the room.

Konnor got his parents considerable money over the next few years up until he was orphaned in a freak car accident, his parents drunk driving off a bridge on the way home from a meeting at Spaßzeit.

He and his little sister, Henrietta, stayed at the factory while the two brothers, growing old, nearly burnt themselves building what would’ve been the world’s first animatronic that they called Busterdog. In fact, those two walked right out of the fire without a scratch! Konnor escaped alive, but didn’t think to get Henrietta. Legend says, she apparently fused with or melted into the animatronic. Allegedly, Konnor saw something exit the fire, but it didn’t look like her. Anyways, the next month, on the turn of 1941, the smoke from the fire was still being run out. It was considered toxic, and no one was allowed near the site. The eldest brother (Karl) passed away from an unknown cause and the government was convinced the smoke and ashes carried some kind of virus. The citizens tried to resist, but a lockdown was enforced in 1942. Everyone’s lives in that town became somewhat dystopian from this point forward.

——————

GENERATION I

PART 1 …FUN TIMES

A 12-year-old boy walked into List. He was very rugged and dirty, but had well intentions. His shirt had holes in it and was an off-putting shade of white and his flood pants were nearly shorts that matched the brown shoe that he had. This boy was Oscar, no last name (known to him, at least). He was going to turn thirteen this year soon. He had been taken care of by an unknown woman for over a year before she mysteriously died when he was six and, missing the ability to relax in a safe home, he wanted to apply for a foster family. In order to do so, he had to go to the Krankenhaus and test and get a vaccine for the disease Blorgschnecke, and it affected mainly teens. In the waiting line, he grabbed an article of the local newspaper instead of watching Tokio Jokio on the little Fernseher. He didn’t know much about the current events. He was, in fact, homeless. He had been living mostly behind a dumpster for about two years.

Konnor was having an awful day, as he was applying for a foster family that probably wouldn’t love him and his birthday present from the universe was a Q-tip up his nose and a needle full of toxic chemicals to counter the ones already in his system.

Oscar was the only one not wearing a mask in the line. Everyone else was angry at him. Finally, one man spoke out and everyone started yelling at him. He was confused, as he could not hear what they were saying. Konnor noticed this and told everyone to take their masks off because they were becoming useless: most people in line had them around their chins.

While a riot formed in the street and buildings crashed, Oscar and Konnor stared at each other, flabbergasted, from across the crowd.

———

The next week, the two met in the woods. The government was getting worse every day and gangs were forming that would publicly loot and murder civilians.

They talked for a long time, and they agreed that for the next couple weeks, they should stay somewhere to protect each other. They went searching for a suitable shelter to temporarily stay for the time being. Most places were either taken or, more commonly, past the point of repair. The two finally settled on a cave just south of the mountains.

It was very empty there, and the cave didn’t go deep. Oscar also pointed out that there was an old man to come with the cave. When asked what he was talking about, he turned around and pointed at the surviving Fun Times brother, Leon. He was not aging well, and he had heart problems that showed. He looked up at Konnor like he was an angel.

He said, “Ah! How you gave me such a fright!” They slowly hugged. Leon was tired, yet Konnor wanted to ask questions. “How come you didn’t talk to anyone after Karl passed away?”

“Oh, Konnor. Those legends are crazy. Then again, who knows what could have come out of the alliance of the Dark A…”

Konnor awaited patiently for the end of the pause, but soon enough realized it wasn’t an intentional pause.

The man suddenly couldn’t speak. It seemed he was choking, but he didn’t have anything in his mouth. He looked like he was trying to pry hands off his throat but there was nothing there. In fact, very soon, there was nothing there.

Konnor tried to see if he had a pulse while Oscar rubbed his forehead in disappointment, saying “Why does this have to happen to every old person we meet?”

Konnor continued to panic.

“How could this happen?! Help!”

“Maybe it’s Sinbad or So White and the three Coyotes,” Oscar pithily pointed out.

“Have you tried checking his pockets?” “What could be in there? How would that even help?! Get in your head!” “Just check them.” Konnor kneeled back down and, shaking, reached his hands into the old man’s pockets, to find a folded up piece of paper. It seemed like a note. “Give it to me.” Konnor refused and kept it to himself. They started wrestling on the floor. They got each other in a lock and Oscar quickly grabbed the note. He unfolded it. “Well? What does it say?” “It says, stay away from two things in life. The evil robot, and the.. beast of the night? What, like a dragon or something?” “I have a question.” “What?” “How did you know to reach in his pockets?” “I’m from a place where it’s actually… customary to look in dead people’s pockets. “Where are you from, then?” “I… oh, look! A dead body! We should get that out of the cave before the police get us!” “Okay…”

They shoved the body outside of the cave and rolled it off a cliff. “Glad to see that old man gone,” said Konnor. “Really? I thought you liked him.” “Naw, all he ever did was burn down a factory trying to build a dog from scratch.”

PART 2 …MORE FUN TIMES

“Well, if we’re gonna eat anything, we’d better set up a fire and get some meat.” “Who elected you leader of this outfit?” “You don’t have a last name! How am I supposed to trust you?” “I know how to make hollandaise sauce.” “Do you even have parents?!” “Why do you need to know?” “I doubt you even have a family.” “What about it? What about yours, Konnor?” There was some silence.

“I’ll only get into mine… if you get into yours.” “Fine, I’ll get some kindling.” “Mm hmm. I’ll hunt whatever I can.”

When Oscar came back with kindling and a little dagger from in the middle of the woods, Konnor also came back with two dead pigs. They had a big meal that night.

The next day, Oscar took one of the bigger bones and, intending to make a broth, boiled it in water along with some random spices. He got curious when the whole batch turned blue and started bubbling. He took it off the fire and drank some. It tasted nice. Nothing happened. He heard a loud noise coming from the cave entrance.

He ran over and Konnor was sitting nearby. “Konnor. What was that?” “What was… what?”

“That noise, just now!” “I didn’t hear anything.” “It was coming from this room.” “Look, we need more firewood, and I’m busy finding leftover steel to make helmets and that kind of stuff.” “Swords, too.”

Oscar walked over and tried to open the entrance like he normally did, but it was stuck.

Konnor went to open it for him and see himself in even more glory, but it was stuck no matter how hard they tried to open it. This was bad, this was very bad.

Oscar ran back to the kitchen and the pot where the potion-like broth once was was now empty and there was little to no sign of spillage on the floor. Oscar began to feel very dizzy and uneasy and collapsed without warning on the kitchen floor.

PART 3 …VISITORS

Oscar had experienced some changes since the kitchen incident and become paranoid and even more malnourished.

He kept trying to make a potion that would “undo the curse”.

He had boarded off the original place where he made the cursed potion and would sometimes inhale too many fumes and forget entire hours of time.

While, along the way, he had made some interesting and wacky broths, he didn’t find a ratio of ingredients that was the same as before.

The two had been living together for months now and it was early 1943.

The two had managed to open the entrance, but it was very hard so they would keep it open all summer and closed all winter. Oscar had begun to make a potion book, documenting each “precise” combination. “Precise” meaning “a little bit” and “some” and “a lot”, of course.

Konnor began to regard Oscar as a wizard, and their roles in protecting the cave began to become clear. Konnor would hunt and make metal things, Oscar would make potions and do anything with wood, and they would both garden, which was especially hard since there wasn’t much natural light in a cave nor enough space to garden out front.

It would sometimes be tricky to keep this routine up, however, but only because sometimes Konnor would be tired or have injuries. Oscar was a good fighter when it came to beasts and such but still didn’t like the feeling he got when the enemy was dead or hurt, even when the enemy was particularly mad or evil.

Someone knocked on the entrance.

There were two people, a girl and a boy.

Konnor and Oscar invited them in and they opened the entrance from the outside, making it movable again.

The visitors, in uniforms of some sort, formally introduced themselves as Diana and Michael as they made their way through the

Diana said, “What are your names?” “Why are you asking?” “We have a warrant.” “From who?” “BND.” “This is a really bad time to come-“ “Well, regardless,” said Micheal, “we have been sent here by the German government, and you people are living in this cave without a telephone, housing license, and address.” Konnor pointed out, “How do we know you people aren’t scammers? You look a little young for the government.” Diana showed him a badge with a picture of an elderly man on it. Konnor said, “Wait. That’s not-“ Diana started fighting with him and Oscar ran away. Diana was good at karate but she spoke German, both confusing and bad news for Konnor. He threw hard punches but she was quick and dodged a considerable amount. Oscar ran back with the last potion he made and dumped it all on Diana without any warning. She disappeared as it was pouring. Michael was now gone too.

“Oscar…what did you do?!”

“That doesn’t matter right now.”

“Doesn’t it?!”

“You invited them in and I only defended you and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Don’t make me come over there and bludgeon you with this metal pot.”

Konnor went silent.

Oscar walked to the entrance and went outside.

Konnor immediately followed him out the door but when he looked around, Oscar wasn’t anywhere.

Oscar woke up on some leaves in the woods at midnight. It had been two weeks since the fight with Diana or…whatever her name was. He got up and saw some blood on his hands. He looked at the leaves below. They were also blood red. Blood was dripping down his front. He then looked around him. He could feel the trees looking at him, staring at him. He felt paranoid.

The trees told him it would be best to go and leave the woods behind. He obeyed something for once in his life and ran away.

He woke up in the passenger seat of a Volkswagen Beetle next to a guy who was a few years older than him. The moon began to go down. The driver said, “What were you doing out in the woods?” Oscar said, “Well, I’m not completely sure.”

“Oh, come on, it’s not like you were sleepwalking?” “I… really hope I was.” “And, if you weren’t?”

“It’s nothing. I think the question should be, why would you pick up an unconscious stranger from the woods at two A.M?” “I don’t know. You were bleeding from the head-” “I was?” Oscar felt his forehead and there was dried blood all the way down to the end of his nose. “Yes, you were. And you looked like a gang beat you up.” “Yeah. What’s your name?” “Brian Adams. Yours?” “Is this interrogation gonna go on any further?” “Look, just, where do you live?” “In a cave, only northeast of that abandoned bomb shelter.” “Got it.”

Oscar pressed his face against the window so that his nose was snow-white. He looked at the trees, and their leaves fell off. Their branches formed crosses and the clouds began to turn red. The clouds dripped a red liquid down onto the ground which grew plants. Oscar exclaimed, “Look at that!” “What is it? Show me.” They pulled over. Brian grinned. In real life, there were actually no blood plants and no crossed trees and no out-of-ordinary clouds.

The driver got out a knife. Oscar said, “This is weird. What do you think it is?” “I think… you’re one of them.” “One of who? Is it those Mexican guys who go around stealing earlobes? Because I have nothing to do with them.” “You’re one of the cursed ones.” “Huh?”

PART 4 …PLACEHOLDER ARC

The moment there was a flash of light, there was nothing.

The moment there was a vision, there was simple, plain, wandering blindness.

The moment there were bleeding vines, there was then a road.

Oscar was running down this road, covered in his own blood once again.

He ran into a Glundenheisten (grocery store) and started looking for scissors, a staple gun, matches, or anything else that could be used to fight Brian.

He lit a match but dropped it in the corner, five boxes of wafers now engulfed in flames. He was still looking for a blade of any kind and not acknowledging the safety hazard two feet away from himself.

That’s when an alarm went off in the building.

Policemen ran in and told everyone to find shelter. Konnor ran to Oscar and shouted in the midst of all the noise, “Why did you run away?!”

“The trees were telling me to!”

Konnor was enraged at this.

“You’re insane! The trees did not tell you to run away!”

“They did, too!”

“That doesn’t matter. We have to get OUT of here! Come on!”

“What’s all the commotion about, anyways?”

“A nuclear bomb is being fired at us!”

Oscar, who’d never seen or heard of a nuclear bomb, gazed in amazement out of the window, surrounded by chaos and fire.

“Huh,” he mumbled to himself.

“Will you look at that…”

———

GENERATION II

PRELUDE …AWAKEN, DARLING

Welcome to September 1945, the perfect time of the year to live in America.

Just warm enough, orange trees, kids playing in the park, people waking up from comas…

Two who fell under this category were Konnor and Oscar, your favourite apocalyptic survivors.

I know what you must be thinking. Apocalyptic? What am I talking about?

You’ll see.

After this, there’s only one more generation, by the way, and then something really wild happens.

Beep, beep, beep.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

Beep beep beep beep.

BeepBeepBeepBeBeBeepBeBeBeBeep.

BeeBeeBeeBeeBeeB-B-B-B-B-Beeeep.

The same way the hospital machines frantically press when heartbeats become faster, Konnor and Oscar jolted to consciousness in their beds.

“What year is this?”

“1945, sir.”

“We time travelled two years in the future?” Oscar didn’t know what to think.

“Only two? This sucks,” said Konnor.

The doctor said, “You didn’t miss anything. The war kept on going until a couple days ago.”

There was a note on their bedsides, it said, “BUSTERBLORG IS COMING”.

“Where are we?”

“Las Vegas, Nevada.”

“Oh. Well, we should be getting back now.”

“Back to where?” asked Konnor.

“Germany, of course!”

“And what business do we have there?” “Getting back our things, or at least the things that haven’t exploded anyways!”

“I’m pretty sure our cave will be covered in mould by now.”

“What about Buster?”

“What about him?”

“He was a robot! He could’ve sent the nukes!”

“Nuclear Bombs, and he’s probably been in the garbage disposal for a while now,” said Konnor confidently.

“Recycle, and he’s probably been after us for quite some time now,” said Oscar bitchily.

They got out of their beds, had their equipment taken off, and signed their checks as Johnny and Bobby.

PART 5 …DON’T BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

Jonathan and Carlo were people.

Okay… uh.. Good people or bad people?

Oh, yeah, I’ll tell you that later.

Jonathan was from Holland, an interesting place to be at the time. He was raised by loving parents who always stood side by side but one of them disappeared one day so Jonathan left to embark on a journey trying to find his mom and the phone charger she took with her. (Yes, I know, 1945, “at least be true to your own story”, okay, fine.) Jonathan met an older friend, Ray, they called him, and he owned a smoke shop. Carlo was born to a loving household in the Islands, out of which he got adopted because they couldn’t afford him anymore. He was then raised by somewhat strict French-Dutch parents who didn’t see him often. He ran away and started living behind a smoke shop, where Jonathan found him and they became friends who would sometimes buy eachother food and protect each other from the mobs.

They started to travel Europe and try and find a safe place to stay.

One day in Germany, Jonathan saw a rusty gate surrounding a torn building that said “Do Not Trespass! BND Only.” Jonathan trespassed, not being BND, just to see what the big deal was about an old building. What could be the matter?

He thought he saw something move in the ground. Its spikes poked out of the ground as it slithered like a snake, smoothly through the dry dirt. The dirt crumbled into rocks and clumps.

Oh, but this wasn’t a snake. It roared in his face, showing its terrifying fangs and eyes. He didn’t know what this thing was! He screamed and tried to run, but he tripped and fell.

He heard something else coming from inside the building.

He got up.

He then saw a humanoid shadow run away from behind the building.

He grabbed his camera and took pictures of the giant slithering creature and the shadow-like silhouette.

He ran away back home and told Carlo all about it, who told the newspapers.

Konnor and Oscar always checked the newspapers at the 99-cent Depot (there were no Glundenheistens in Las Vegas) in case Leon or Busterblorg showed up and they had to make a run for it. Konnor noticed an article about cases of strange, mutated animal sightings surrounding the 1941 Europe pandemic. There were theories of radiation. He told Oscar. They both knew they had to go back to Germany. This was not over.

———

Their cave had been mostly cleared out.

There was still the pot that was used to make potions, even though it was a tiny bit warped.

There was a bow-arrow and a sword on the ground, a couple other not-important things, as well as a note.

It read, “BUSTERBLORG HAS RISEN”.

———

Oscar - Memory 1

Underwater, Oscar felt stinging all over.

He didn’t know what was stinging him.

The place was completely empty, and it was a bit eerie to him.

He swam down to a house and what he thought could be shelter.

The door was open.

He saw pictures.

Pictures everywhere.

Oscar picked up one displaying a mom and a dad and two kids.

The mom’s face was carved out, as well as both the kids’.

The dad looked somewhat unhappy in the picture, even though they were at the beach.

Did he not like the waves?

Was he upset by the trees?

Was he angry at his delicious drink?

Perhaps.

Or, perhaps, he was in an unhappy marriage.

Maybe the mother got custody of both the kids, so their faces got carved out too.

Or the kids and the parents had a falling out too big to repair.

A good situation made bad.

Of course, Oscar didn’t know that this was a family, that there were other people at all, because it could have been random spots carved out of the photograph.

All he saw was a picture of an unhappy man.

Oscar pitied the man and brought the man everywhere with him. He gave the lonely man the gift of company.

But the man was still unhappy.

Oscar hugged the man and complimented him and made him a hat.

But the man was still unhappy.

Oscar was tired of this man not smiling so he stomped on the picture, the glass shattering into millions of pieces and shards.

The man was now smiling.

———

Konnor and Oscar, who just happened to be dressed in black, filled a bag with their things.

Three knocks were heard on their door.

They looked at each other.

“Oh, no.”

They opened the door to see younger Jonathan and Carlo standing there.

“We were forced to!”, exclaimed Oscar.

“Yeah! By the government!”, said Konnor.

“Well, we are the government,” said Jonathan.

Carlo gave him a look and said, “What? Excuse Jonathan, uh, we’re not. But if you are taking their stuff, we would like their potion book.”

“P-potion book?” Oscar had been thrown sideways by this request.

Konnor, still collected, said, “Okay, but I and my friend must talk. Sorry, just a moment, please!” Konnor then abruptly slammed the door.

It was clearly audible what they were saying.

“OSCAR! No! NOOO!”

“Whatever happens, we have to stick together!”

“What do we do?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Your book, your choice!”

“Your fuck, your shit!”

“Uh?”

“Okay. …Let’s grab this…” “What are you doing?”

“Barricading the door.”

Jonathan, trying not to laugh, put his ear up to the door as Carlo said, “Why are you barricading? We’re not government, promise, okay?” “Sorry! No cook book for you! Sorry, Jonathan or whatever you said your name was!” “Yeah, it’s Jonathan!” “I’m Carlo, by the way.” Carlo reminded Konnor of himself, so he thought he could talk some sense into him. “Okay.. Konnor, how do we know we can trust you with our book?” “Because I’m Carlo Agouza. Headline of Vegas News.” Osczr was shocked, but also was angry at himself for not realizing this. “Uhhh… what are you doing here?”

“I know about your whole situation with the Spaßzeit building, and I know you have something to do with the… well, that.”

———

The two opened the door and they all sat down.

“So, why do you need my recipes?”

“Well, Jonathan and I are going to try to do two things:

Uncover the radiation mystery and make ourselves immortal.”

“Why, though? I get it about the radiation thing, but why do you need to be immortal?”

“Because we need to live long enough to see the end of the Cancer of Videt.”

“Cancer of Videt?”

“Yeah. It’s a long story, but when the time comes, we will be there to kill the Cancer. It’s a curse that is carried through not just rogue body cells, but rogue life.”

“Wow,” said Konnor. “We might have some experience with that.”

“Great,” said Carlo.

“How did you find us, though?”

“Well, it’s a lot of digging.

Jonathan and I did our homework. You used to be the spokesperson of Spaßzeit. Then, we found that, by the time the Lockdown had ended, you had disappeared.

We then traced you to the ‘43 explosion through a spy named Brian Hopkins, and that you were flown into Canada by a soldier because German hospitals need home addresses and you were living in a cave. No caves in a ten-mile vicinity of that old Glundenheisten exist besides this one.

We believe his mother’s been taken by this curse and that the entirety of Europe, especially this town, has also been plagued by this curse.

We need your help to destroy this Cancer.”

Oscar and Konnor looked at each other and nodded. Konnor spoke.

“Well, here’s what we think. We need your help, you need our recipe. If you can work with us on our radiation project, we can be your supplier of all things Videt.”

PART 6 …A NEW PLACE

Blood.

Blood everywhere.

Oscar only saw Brian.

Carlo was smiling.

Carlo was laughing.

Carlo was holding Oscar’s head.

Oscar’s body had been left on the ground.

Konnor was sitting there with a giant hole in his stomach.

He was yelling at someone, like they were in a fight. Maybe he was angry at Jonathan, who was running out the door.

Then, Oscar’s head started to regurgitate blood. Blood was thick and bright red.

Things started to go dark.

Then, he woke up.

Konnor was brewing some coffee.

Lately, it seemed that things were looking up.

Despite Oscar’s visions, it wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen before, and he just shrugged it off.

Nobody really knew why, maybe it was just the way the light came through the cracks in the stone, maybe it was that Konnor and Oscar’s party had expanded, maybe it was that now they all had a common goal, a purpose.

Also, recently, Oscar had turned sixteen (fourteen if you don’t count the coma).

Later this week, they were going to set out to Keystone Hollows, a small and peaceful Sicilian village just by the bay, because that is supposedly where Brian went. And they’d had a lot of questions for him.

They had started packing their things.

They each had an individual backpack to take with them, and a small ice box that they would fill with snacks.

Konnor’s backpack had inside a first-aid kit that Carlo lent him, clothes, a compass, a dagger, and a bottle of water.

Oscar’s backpack had inside an axe, a wool blanket, a jar of change, a notepad, a rock, clothes, and a bottle of water.

Jonathan’s backpack had inside a bow and arrow, a candle, a lighter, a packet of money, and two bottles of water.

Carlo’s backpack had inside a notepad, two pens, sunglasses, and some seeds.

On Sunday, they began their expedition. They put up a defense system containing extremely potent poison that Konnor and Oscar made, a tripwire that Jonathan just had lying around, and a lot of cardboard.

———

Konnor - Memory 1

“In Ordnung Junge! Dies ist Ihre Zeit zu glänzen!” Leon assured Konnor’s confidence.

Konnor smiled nervously as the camera began to zoom in on him. He didn’t particularly like being on camera, but he understood that his work was valuable and his family would get paid in return.

He began to speak his lines.

“Hallo, ich bin Konnor. Meine Eltern schenkten mir ein Spaßzeit-Spielzeug aus echter, gereinigter Menschenhaut! Ich spiele damit und habe so viel Spaß mit der neuen Technik.

Holen Sie sich unsere Nazi-Hitler-Spielzeuge für nur RM 1 bei Ihrem örtlichen Glundenheisten!”

Kinder, lernt jetzt fluchen! Mach deine Eltern wütend!”

The brothers were so happy, they hugged Konnor. They gave him a dagger for him to remember them by. He kept it for the rest of his life.

———

They traveled via hitch-hiking, an experience that Konnor had to hold Oscar’s hand through.

It wasn’t a very long ride, since they were just going through Switzerland to Italy, but it was very scenic and they enjoyed the trip.

Then, they just had to deal with the over-sea journey. They didn’t have the money for a flight, and they were in a rural area.

The group took a rowboat across the vast 20-degree water.

They landed safely on the outskirts of Keystone Hollows, southwest Sicily, just by the ocean.

Something about this place was familiar to Oscar.

———

Konnor - Memory 2

“We’re going to be fine, Konnor.”

“Don’t worry, Konnor.”

Konnor gazed at the steaming pile of crashed cars on the narrow bridge highway.

Konnor’s mother suddenly screamed. His father was shouting swear words.

Suddenly, the car was dangling off a bridge. Konnor had almost pure adrenaline pulsing through his veins.

His father told him to climb and that he would be okay.

He climbed up and got back on the highway.

He, shivering, followed the cars and planned to find the nearest shelter.

After a few hours, Konnor spotted a shelter, but when he got to the front door, his parents weren’t behind him like he expected them to be.

———

Monday, October 1st, 1945.

Radiation had spread to parts of Spain. It was all over the news. It had been declared an epidemic.

Of course, Konnor, Oscar, Jonathan, and Carlo weren’t hearing of this, because they were in Keystone Hollows, a small Sicilian village.

They built a chest with their weapons and blades.

Oscar also made some sort of tool that he didn’t name, using mainly Jonathan’s stuff. He didn’t use it for the rest of that trip, but kept it in his pocket no matter what. Now, back to navigation.

You look east, you see a gravel road and a sandy town, way out in the hills, and past it, the idyllic grassy meadow, the trees slung with foreign decorations.

You look west, you see the vast, seemingly endless ocean, and some sort of rusty boat and abandoned dock not far off the shore.

Something about that boat looked awfully familiar to Oscar. He wanted to go see it, but they would have to do that later. For now, they had to go through the grassy meadow, into the Greater Mountains where, supposedly, Brian lived.

———

Oscar - Memory 2

Suddenly, as Oscar stared slack-jawed at the ship, everything turned more vibrant and colorful, as if through the lens of a toddler’s vision.

The ship returned to its old, beautiful, sparkling, majestic state. Where some old rotting piles of wood stood began to grow some small buildings. Shelters, perhaps.

Oscar began to spectate himself walking towards it. The place was beautiful on the inside. Everyone was friendly there, and he had a lot of friends.

an v oi

———

The four walked into the main village, Konnor and Oscar dragging the ice box.

It was a pretty place, but there wasn’t much to see, given that it was rural and small.

The first thing they saw was a parrot on an oddly placed branch, no tree to be seen. The branch was dug into the sand.

The parrot said nothing but, “Go no further! Go no further!”

They eventually found a shelter to stay.

They left their ice chest there, and decided to come back every day before sundown.

Oscar was silent the whole time, as residents looked curiously at him and the rest of Konnor’s party.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Carlo grew a blank stare and started to walk out. Konnor and Jonathan followed him, not knowing what was happening.

One of the residents had told Carlo exactly where Brian was, in exchange for half of their money. They now had $5.30.

Meanwhile, Oscar stood still, frozen by the haunted atmosphere of the building.

———

Ding-dong.

Ding-ding-dong.

DingDingDingDing-dong ggg.

DiDiDiDiDiDidi—dong.

A man wearing a suit and a moustache came and answered the door.

Confused, Konnor explained, “We’re looking for Brian…Brian?”

“Brian, the old owner of this house? I think he must be 20 now.”

“Then who are you?”

“I’m Lorenzo Adams.”

“Lorenzo? This isn’t our dude. C’mon, guys.”

“Hold-Hold on!”

“What, Lorenzo?”

“Have I seen you somewhere?”

Lorenzo pointed at Carlo.

“I’m Carlo Ago-“

“Oh my, Dio! My cousin Leronza lives in Nevada! She mailed me this crazy newspaper about things happening in France and Germany and Hungary- I- Well, I think I might be able to help you. But it depends on what it is that you are seeking…”

———

Oscar woke up on some leaves in the woods at midnight. It had been two weeks since the encounter with Lorenzo or…whatever his name was. He noticed that the leaves below him were blood red. He looked again at his hands. They were also blood red.

Blood was dripping down his front.

He then looked around him. He could feel the trees looking at him. They told him it would be best to go and leave the woods behind. He said no this time, as he had become curious what they were driving him away from.

He began to walk over behind the trees.

He suddenly felt something on his right leg. He reached down and felt it.

It was a pair of freezing cold hands.

Oscar got dragged down to the dirt.

He looked up and saw Brian’s face.

Except it was pale and gaunt, and it had bite marks on it.

Brian, almost turquoise a shell, made two very shallow, rattling breaths. He then ceased to breathe.

Oscar tried to wake him up or see if he was still alive but to no avail.

Oscar walked out onto the road.

There was nothing on it. There was, in fact, barely a road. The road was covered only in cobwebs and further darkness around the corner.

He tripped on something and fell backwards, hitting his head and blacking out.

———

“So, Lorenzo, grace us with your intellect.”

“Well, you see, I used to be a scientist at this place… Draagen Facility, we called it, but no one ever knew the real name, just the address.

We would experiment with nuclear radiation, early atom explosives, all the dangerous materials.

Once, we tested male rats in a small environment riddled with nuclear radiation.

One of the twelve Ratten survived, but had clear physical changes—if not injuries.

Also, we put three plants in that small environment. One of them grew. We called that plant something.”

“What was the plant called?”

“I… can’t remember.”

Suddenly, the door slammed, as if one of the boys pushed it. None of them did.

Konnor pulled it back open, even though it felt like someone on the other side was trying to hold it closed. They walked inside, and suddenly, instead of the aerial, wooden home filled with beautiful furniture, it was

cemented and packed with cobwebs. Everything was grey and rotten. There were maggots everywhere.

There was a pile of completely moldy tomatoes directly in the kitchen entrance. Jonathan walked further than Konnor and Carlo did, and saw that the Fernseher (television set) was on.

He sat on the floor silently and watched the alarm test that was being aired.

WARNING! PERICOLO! GEVAAR! DANGER!

Air quality has dropped to below the “red” level in these areas…

Please, all families and citizens, stay in the nearest shelter. There has been a recent explosion in your area and there has been a toxic air alert of 16.1 pCi/h. This is extremely dangerous to breathe or be unprotected in. Get all of your things and hide underground until further notice.

Various jarring alarm noises came from both outside and the Fernseher.

Carlo went running outside, going back to the shelter to warn Oscar.

He left his backpack, though, and Jonathan planted three trees. That was the last time Jonathan went outside for a long time.

PART 7 …BRIAN LUGOSI’S DEAD

Welcome to the wonderful Keystone Hollows — The place that you’ll never leave!

———

The group had returned to the cave, now more of a half-underground mansion hut, and hid cooped up in there in the midst of what might have been just a typical everyday nuclear apocalypse.

Carlo noticed that all his things are gone.

He didn’t use everything he brought, however.

Everything in the ice chest had been eaten.

There were just empty bags and cans left. It wasn’t like a crazy person had gone through it, though. It was very neatly done, as if by pressure. Each bag was popped in the lower-left corner, each can was just slightly opened, but the straw handle was perfectly in place.

Carlo assembled the bags all into place, so that all the seals were facing south.

They formed a drawing of two trees.

Carlo immediately ran outside of the cave.

He saw two plants growing out of the ground, in the left half of a small planter.

———

Oscar woke up in the cave.

He was trying to deny to himself that he woke up in the cave. He wanted to go back to the woods and find out what happened to Brian.

He then saw the amount of blood coming out of his head and put a wrapped gauze bandage on.

He fell asleep again.

———

March 20, 1946

They were living on tallow and some mysterious fruit that they were growing inside next to a light bulb. Carlo was feeling ill and had a migraine recently but didn’t complain too much because he didn’t want to kill the buzz of Konnor’s upcoming nineteenth birthday!

Konnor was an adult now, and this was an important thing to celebrate.

So you can imagine their confusion when a fog began to roll over Europe and the Fernseher that they had stolen from Keystone Hollows suddenly wasn’t working.

Oscar mainly took care of Carlo and fed him healing potions every now and then. He was good at keeping secrets, so he kept a lot of Carlo’s. By the way, Oscar still didn’t explain the ordeal of the woods or his bandage to them, but would disappear a lot to the woods to try to find him. There were no cobwebs. It was like there had never been any. In fact, he rarely ever talked to anyone besides Carlo.

Jonathan was starting to develop a theory that they had never left Keystone Hollows, as well as a much more likely theory that they had never actually left Germany.

Some possible incentives to think as such:

Ray, the owner of the smoke shop he lived behind, was called Lori by his friends.

Just like it would have been for Lorenzo.

That reminded him of the search for his mother and how off-track he had gotten trying to distract himself. Her name was Loretta.

Konnor was beginning to worry that this fog wouldn’t clear over before his birthday.

This was a strange situation, and Oscar and Carlo knew something the rest of them didn’t.

———

“No. No! No! NO!”

Oscar was digging around in the wood once again, for darkness and cobwebs and Brian’s body. None. Just a completely empty valley where the road was, and tulips growing where all the cobwebs were.

Spring. Spring. That’s why, that has to be why, he thought. Too many flowers, too many of something or other.

He had only been there before in fall and winter.

He wasn’t at all paying attention to the fact that he was searching these woods at one in the afternoon.

He was too busy worrying, burdened with Carlo’s secret.

Oscar was frantically digging in the leaves, getting teary-eyed. He just wanted an answer.

He suddenly felt dizzy, like he was on a boat.

That’s when the floor started moving.

Oscar looked east.

He saw a pile of leaves covered in sand and, past it, more woods, the trees slung in foreign decorations.

No! No, no, no, no! This can’t be it!

Oscar looked west.

He saw a creek past the tulips.

In that creek, there was an abandoned rusty old boat, half sunken.

Oscar was running towards it as if he were running for his own life.

Then, just as he was about to touch it, he tripped on Brian’s body and, hooked on it, fell right into the creek and quickly drowned.

Instantly, he woke up again in the cave.

He gasped for air as he noticed, in a split second, that he was back home.

Okay, this is some kind of cruel joke, isn’t it, thought Oscar. I refuse to engage and I will find answers!

I am going there and I am going to find Brian and I will force him, one way or another, to tell me everything.

———

Oscar saw a shadowy figure in the woods.

He started to chase it. Every turn it took was unexpected and he got slowed down. He picked up speed and was just about to grab it but he fell down into something.

Oscar woke up again in the cave.

No, no, no!

Oscar went back to the woods.

He saw a shadowy figure in the woods.

He started to chase it. He remembered the route it took. He managed to grab it and jumped over the hole he fell into.

He pinned the figure against a tree.

What he saw was something undead. It growled at him. He held it down.

It snarled at him.

He held it down.

It opened its mouth wider than any human could do, and it screamed at him.

Oscar, frightened, jumped back, letting the monster go, and hit his something on something, falling backwards.

Oscar woke up in the cave again.

He went to the woods but this time he could not find the monster or the boat.

He looked at his wristwatch and the time had not changed by a second since the first time he went into the woods.

He noticed that every time he went into the woods he forgot another thing that happened.

———

Konnor looked down at Oscar, who had been caught attempting to bleed out on the kitchen floor again.

Oscar had been gone for a week with no explanation as to where he went. Carlo had gone missing as well, but he hadn’t reappeared yet.

Jonathan was busy baking Konnor’s birthday cake and decorating it.

He was stressed about Oscar and Carlo. What is going on with those two?

Oscar went silent for a half-year and disappeared for days.

Carlo went silent for a month and disappeared indefinitely.

When Oscar finally did return, he came unconscious.

This was a strange, strange situation.

Jonathan was now almost completely sure that there was some place that they never left. He wasn’t sure where it was, though.

Oscar jolted awake suddenly, his mouth closed and dripping with blood.

He pointed at the entrance.

“What are you pointing at?”

PART 8 …SO, THEN, A WORMY THING

Oscar - Memory 3

Oscar sat, eating a dumpster frankfurter.

It was dark outside.

Suddenly, Oscar saw light, and heard a wail.

He thought the heavens had come down to Earth.

He thought he was dying.

He looked suspiciously at the frankfurter, which, in daylight, was actually covered in mould, and then looked back up again at the sound.

Then, he heard a voice screaming.

Then, there was an explosion.

Then, there was nothing.

Oscar got up. He walked towards the source of the explosion. He heard footsteps.

He then saw a flame. One flame, two flames, three flames, a considerable amount of sparks and smoke, then the building was on fire.

He saw something walk out of the building.

Then, another, smaller explosion.

Then, once again, there was nothing.

And then there was everything.

And then there was light.

Broad daylight.

Oscar lay in a pile of ashes and asbestos.

He got up and dusted himself off.

He heard a horn.

He saw a boat sailing away.

———

“Hello…” “Jonathan, did you invite this woman?” “No..”

An elderly lady stood at the door, leaning on a beaten wooden cane.

The old lady showed herself the way inside.

“Boys, I have very crucial advice for you!”

“What?!”

“Don’t mess with radiation. It is very bad for your health. And we wouldn’t want you going and dying, would we?”

“Wait, how do you know us, again?” “Heartworms.” “I’m sorry?”

“He died of heartworms. The things sick dogs get. Karl died of heartworms. No one knows, except for the police, most of which are dead.”

“Hold on, how are you surviving the apocalypse as an elderly woman?”

“Why, I was born in the apocalypse.” “Excuse me?” “I was born in 1941.” “That wasn’t an apocalypse, that was a virus, like influenza.”

“No, I’m not sure you understand. I was born in 1941.”

“How could you be an elder if we, teenagers, are thrice as old as you are?!” “Well, actually, I’m nineteen today,” stated Konnor, confidently. “Well, technically, you’re seventeen today,” added Oscar with an additude. “Well, technically, shut up,” yelled Konnor. “Up yours, birthday boy,” growled Oscar.

The elderly woman was startled by their argument. Wait.

Where did the elderly woman go?

———

April 2, 1946

Jonathan woke up from a deep slumber.

That was a good night’s rest, he thought. Had to have been over 8 hours.

He glanced at his watch.

Oh. It actually had been over eight hours!

It had been nineteen days!

He didn’t remember anything about celebrating Konnor’s birthday but he remembers stabbing someone… Oh, no! Did he stab Konnor? Did he stab himself? Did he stab a stranger?

No, he thought as he observed the green blood on his knife. He walked further into the front room and noticed that their cave’s rocky floor had been uplifted by something cylindrical.

Hooooooold on a second.

He remembered a dragon of some kind.

This was the breaking point for Jonathan.

There is something wrong with this cave, he thought.

And then, as he looked up towards the ceiling, he saw someone (not Oscar, Konnor, or Marco, but a stranger) hanging on the drying rack.

Okay, that’s it, I’m out of here, Jonathan thought. He started packing his things.

“I’m gonna go find Mom.”

By now, he had almost completely forgotten that Marco ever existed, so that was useless by now.

He walked out of the cave, leaving behind that chapter of his life. He had given up on ending the Curse, he had given up on life in Germany. He was finally heading home.

———

Now, it had gone back to just Konnor and Oscar, but now, instead of defending themselves during a time of corrupt government, they were defending themselves during a time of no government whatsoever.

It was April 18th when they awoke.

Carlo and Jonathan were gone, and so were their things.

got up and looked down at a very pale Oscar. Right beside his head was an uplifted trail of blood-washed rock and stone. The entrance was open!

Who knew how much radiation the two could’ve been exposed to while they were asleep?!

Konnor looked down again at Oscar, who seemed to have gone back to sleep. He attempted to wake him up. Nothing worked. Also, in doing this, he noticed that Oscar’s skin felt quite cold.

Flies began to gather on Oscar’s skin. Konnor had to waft them off and keep Oscar warm.

He covered Oscar with blankets.

Konnor started to make some bean soup.

———

Oscar woke up.

He was alone. Everything was blurry.

What was this place? What was happening?

Surrounding him were four walls, each with two or three doors, all closed but one. And the open door led to nowhere.

He looked up, and he saw more doors on the ceiling, what looked like a reflection of the doors he was in the middle of. He tried walking up towards one of the doors and realized his body was sideways. He looked down at where he thought one of the walls were, and it was just the floor again.

Oscar looked behind his shoulder and saw the same wall of doors that he was facing. Then he noticed that his body was also facing that wall.

Had he even turned his head at all?

Where am I?

What kind of weird game is this?

He tried to open a door. It was locked.

He looked closely at the door. He blinked.

He realized he was looking at his hand.

He was now, once again, in the middle of the room.

Oscar started to panic.

He ran over to another door. It was also locked.

He tried to escape, but wherever he went would lead him to the exact same spot.

He tried to open another door.

He pulled with all his weight and was sent flying.

He noticed the door was now opened wide and that a vague shape of some smaller person was walking into the room.

There Oscar stood, staring at a 12-year-old Oscar.

Neither of them knew what to say.

———

Konnor would check on the plants every other day or so, just to make sure it was still growing.

He was beginning to wonder if he was losing his mind. Where was everybody? How was Oscar still able to take a nap?

It felt like Konnor’s life was at a standstill.

He could stay here at the cave with Oscar, who was more or less dead, or he could move on and get a life and try to save the world and be the hero. But he couldn’t do that if he had waters to plant and a care to take friend of and a giant food of supply, could he!

No one knew that he was alive.

And he didn’t know that anyone else was alive.

His entire life was now a leap of faith that, somewhere out there, there was a good samaritan. Someone that knew about him.

They’d better come fast, because Konnor was starting to see two of everything.

———

“Un-fucking-canny,” mumbled Oscar as he looked at every angle and every scar of his old self.

“What happens to me?” “What do you mean?” “If you’re me, you’d know. In the future, how do I go from me to you?” “I- I guess you don’t.” “What?” “If I’m dead and I’m seeing you, then you’re dead.” “No… I’m not. I can’t be. I can’t die at twelve!”

“No. Listen to me. Get out of Germany now.” “Why should I trust you? What if this is just another broken delusion?”

“No, I’m trying to warn you! You need to leave Germany as soon as possible! You are going to die!”

“But-“ stuttered the younger Oscar,

“If I leave, then you die.”

“No! You don’t understand! I’m dead because you stayed in Germany. You’ve got to get out of here now. Turn back.” “But if I left then you would never exist.”

This stopped Oscar in his tracks.

“Oh. You’re right..”

“You know what? This is a stupid trap! You’re not me!”

Oscar was trying to explain to him to leave, but he kept realizing that no matter what Young Oscar did, Oscar would end up dead.

It was like Death had Oscar in a checkmate.

“But wait!”

“There’s no worth waiting for you. I hate you.”

Oscar’s eyes welled up with tears.

“No! We have to stay here! I’m real! I’m you!”

“You’re no person. You’re just a curse.”

———

“Konnor? Is that you?”

A deranged-looking Oscar, covered in blood and rotting pieces of flesh, got up and hugged Konnor. “Yes, Oscar. I’m here for you. You were asleep for a couple hours,” giggled a dirt-covered, limping Konnor.

He pointed at the ceiling, just above a wall that had black scribbles on it.

“MONDAY TUESDAY WHENSDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY THIRSDAY EIGHTDAY ONEDAA ONEDA OADANDA”.

Oscar looked behind Konnor at a giant pile of shriveled fruit and discolored soup.

There were maggots and flies everywhere.

“Konnor…” “What is it, you guys?” “I really messed up.” “Me too.” “No, like, I messed up really bad.”

“Well, let’s hope the sleep midgets don’t punish you.” “What?” “I’m so glad to see you. We’ll get through it.” “Merry Christmas,” said Oscar on this 1st of May as they embraced each other.

This was actually not the lowest point in either of their lives (see: Konnor became an orphan and Oscar was homeless in the winter), but it came very close.

———

“What did we get beat by?” “I don’t know. I remember an old lady and then I remember someone killing her and transplanting into this wormy thing.” “So, then, a wormy thing?” The two were dressed and clean now, but neither of them were all the way mentally stable, and the cave still smelled like beans and rotten apples.

“When was Christmas again?” “I have no idea.”

Oscar went to sit down and he took one of the rocks growing off of a branch of their plants and dropped it in some acidic bean soup.

It sizzled and let off steam. It smelled nice, like roses. He studied it with a microscope and poured it all out into a bucket that he dumped onto the plants. The plants immediately started to look different, but neither of them paid attention.

Outside was starting to look more like it did, but they still kept an up-to-date map about areas with more radiation than others.

Konnor was noticing that he had a headache, and so did Oscar. Neither of them knew why.

———

GENERATION III

PART 9 …START AT THE BEGINNING OF THE END, MY FRIEND

———

Some time in the mid-late 1940’s;

X-rays had finally come to underground post-apocalyptic Germany, so Konnor and Oscar were able to finally get a good diagnosis.

It was a somewhat cold summer, given that the ozone layer had been completely shattered and who knows what that could have led to.

Konnor and Oscar walked up to the Krankenhaus to finally get tested to see whatever this was.

It was a miracle, they said.

A miracle about what?

“A miracle that you’ve lived this long.”

What?!

“You have tumors.”

Oscar and Konnor had gotten diagnosed with brain cancer for being exposed to too much radiation.

Neither of them knew exactly what this meant, but it was scary for sure.

Oscar still hadn’t told Konnor that he was a curse — that their bond was a curse — and he wasn’t sure when he was going to.

The two climbed out of the underground Krankenhaus, worried and confused.

Was this the beginning of the downfall of Oscar and Konnor?

Well, only time will tell. But, I must say, things are gonna get really interesting.

———

Konnor had a plan.

He knew now how everything was gonna go down. It wasn’t all sunshine and flowers, either.

Oscar was planning to tell him about what happened in the room of doors.

He was now completely sure that they were dying because he killed his younger self.

That had to be why this is all happening.

If his younger self was dead, both of them would be dead. Their lives had to go exactly the way they did, or neither of them would’ve been alive.

And they were now desperately trying to track down the monsters that attacked them before, because Konnor was sure that these things were the curse. As you well know, though, having seen all sides of the story…

———

With every stroke of the brush, Oscar’s art got more beautiful.

He was painting a butterfly.

It was a blue butterfly.

He put his arm around to reach for a different brush, and instead of what he was looking for, he felt cold faux leather.

He reached behind himself again, just to feel the same material, what seemed to be a shoe.

Oscar turned around in panic, only to find that he was at his own funeral.

He got up from his chair and, shaking, stared silently at his own dead body.

Konnor stood at Oscar’s coffin alongside others, shaking his head.

Oscar wandered the room, looking at everyone who was attending.

He saw the faces of Carlo, Jonathan, Michael, Leon, and he paced further to see a collection of strangers, the doctors that had diagnosed him, and the thing that shook him the most, his parents were standing at the foot of his corpse.

How were his parents here?

He had no parents!

Parents were supposed to be mean and selfish and unforgiving!

He didn’t even know what his mother or father looked like. How could they appear in this sick dream?

How would they know their son, who they probably never touched, died of a brain tumor? This was when Oscar walked up further.

He discovered that a brain tumor was actually not the cause of death.

Oscar’s dead body had been stabbed in the heart several times.

“It all makes sense now,” said Oscar coldly to himself. He tried to signal to everyone that he was there and, in fact, alive but the people attending didn’t seem to notice or care.

“I was the curse of Alkam, and Jonathan and Konnor finally killed me.

So… what, now?”

———

PART 10 …I DIDN’T THINK I WAS GONNA GET THIS FAR

You’ve read this far, you must like this story. Do you like it enough to keep reading, or does this feel like a fit time to end your journey? It is up to you.

In the event that you choose to keep reading past this little checkpoint, I think you’ll find that the remainder of your time with us here in post-apoctalyptic Nazi Germany is more carelessly written than the previous few parts. Consider everything from now on bonus content if you’d like.

———

Oscar finally confronted Konnor one autumn morning.

“Remember John an-an’ Carlo?”

“Yeah, what about them?”

“They… kind of killed me.”

“What?! Blasphemy! What, are you stupid? If you were dead I wouldn’t be talking to you right now!”

“No. Konnor, listen. They killed me.” “Whatever. And?”

“I was the thing they killed.” “Okay, now you’re just repeat- you’re just rephrasing youself. Tell me what happened.”

“I was the thing I killed.”

“Explain, please.” “I… was… the thing… that they lived… to kill.”

“Yes? …And?!”

“I was… the curse.”

“The- ha!- the curse of what?”

“I… am… the curse.”

“You’re the reason Germany’s an ashtray?!”

“Konnor.”

“Are you the reason I don’t remember what my family looks like?

Do you know how awful it is to not remember what your family looks like?!”

“I was stabbed in the heart! It weren’t no toothpick, either! You were alive! You were alive and well! I wasn’t!”

“It was a mistake to ever meet you or move in with you into this cursed death-pit.”

“The first thing I ever saw was a boat! That boat sank! We read about that boat in the news! I should’ve known then! My first bed I ever slept on was shared with an inmate who was known for murdering children! I lived in a poor kingdom where we were treated like slaves and then when I finally escaped I lived with someone who died within a year of having me!”

“I’m leaving!”

“Please do, do leave! I’m going to do nothing but harm you.”

“Well, that is obvious.”

Konnor swiftly grabbed all of his possessions and slammed the cave entrance on his way out.

Oscar began taking down the boards that he had used to block off the old part of the kitchen.

———

PART 11

———

1948 was a strange year so far.

Well, of course. After all, it was Konnor’s and especially Oscar’s first time living completely alone in years, except this time, he had a home to take care of.

It was also Oscar’s first time living as a dead person, believe it or not.

He still wasn’t entirely sure who killed him, Jonathan and Carlo or himself. Imagine if he was dead because of the Room of Doors incident.

Strange autopsy that would be, don’t you think, suicide by homicide?

The fifties were approaching and the remainder of the government had already built up an entire faux Europe; the one that the world lovingly knows today. They had already killed everyone that knew about what happened, or so they thought, and the last flight from Original Europe was leaving for New York. (unnamed) had boarded that plane. Oscar’s ex-roommate.

Even though it had only been a month or two since (unnamed) had left, Oscar had forgotten what his name was.

Oscar didn’t have to worry about his brain tumor because it was indefinitely terminal at this point, but he still had his moment of nervousness and anxiousness.

Wait, when did Oscar grow a tumor?

Anyways, he was planning to kill a monster later this week at the canyon. For now, he planned on making life potions, ones that cost the most resources. Luckily, he had (dying) plants outside and he was living in a cave about half a mile away from the mountains, where all sorts of things lived and grew. But he didn’t need those resources, because he wasn’t planning on making potions any time soon.

sWAIT!

———

Konnor had quickly gotten used to the bustling nature of Albany, New York. He had gotten a job as a bartender. He was planning to buy an apartment where he could start to write papers so he could quit his job at the bar and become a businessman, hopefully in Senate. Sometimes he missed his old life with Oscar, when things were simpler, but he knew that a freer life in America was worth it. However:

He did not take into consideration that, in order to apply for Senate, he would have to state his hometown, and according to every map being produced from that time on, that town never existed, only “List” which was in its place.

———

Oscar held out his knife against the creature, who had shapeshifted from a humanoid animal to a dizzyingly gigantic mutated earthworm.

This was the beast that had nearly killed him before? Interesting.

Oscar, filled with rage, swung his blade against the pattern of the beast’s scales, leaving a bleeding gash in its side.

The giant spiked heartworm burrowed underground and rose back up, lifting Oscar into the air.

As he was flying directly above the thing’s mouth, he realized he had bitten off far more than he could chew.

The beast jumped up and, just as it was about to bite off Oscar’s leg, he ran on the area below its mouth, using it as a floor. He jumped down below onto the ground. He landed on his feet.

An earthquake happened all at once, shattering the ground. Oscar, standing on a falling fragment of the ground, jumped and threw his blade at its eyes. He missed and his knife landed directly into its mouth. It choked on the sword as it had dragged itself down its throat horizontally, cutting open the tissue to drain out blood and pieces of entrails.

Oscar thought he killed it. He tried to climb back up. The heartworm had successfully eaten his knife, however, and slithered towards him in all of its wrath.

It dove down into the hole he was in.

That’s when his vision went completely black.

———

Oscar woke up, almost drowning in a sea of red water filling up the canyon.

He swam up to the top in a panic, and accidentally swallowed some of it.

He saw the creature laying dead on its back.

It had drowned in its own blood.

Oscar was both happy and also scared… and… a little cold, if I’m being honest.

It started to hail outside.

Now, hear me out. Oscar might not survive.

He is swimming in infected, tar-like, frozen blood. There is a very little chance of him surviving this one.

I mean, c’mon, we’ve already intercepted his death like, what, 5 times, now. If he dies this time, there ain’t no savin’ that guy. Like, maybe it’s just meant to be!

———

Okay, it’s about time I did an arc with Jonathan. Plus, I type well enough now if I want to turn off autocorrect, so now there’s no excuse not to.

Alright. Carlo’s dead, so dear old Johnny boy went… where? Wait, lemme scroll back a second. So many backstories… yeesh…

…M’kay, found it.

So, Holland was a nice-ish place to be in the later 1940’s. They and Hungary were the only ones mostly not affected by the apocalypse, so their economy was amazing at that point.

However, Jonathan was more damaged and brooding than the other boys there, who were mainly just playing games all the time; that is, when they weren’t in school.

One day, as he was checking another street for his family, he met a boy named Johannes (Dutch for Jonathan; they literally had the same name) who was having a hard time with school but wanted to learn so badly after the war and such.

They had a conversation and Jonathan found that a lot of the struggles Johannes had with school were the same ones Jonathan was having with his search. It was hard; he could barely keep up with all that was happening but this was so important to him; etcetera.

The two eventually became friends, creating a complicated dilemma. Our dear old Jonathan didn’t want to leave the warm company of Johannes, but he also didn’t want to get sidetracked on his journey for another five years.

And don’t go trying to jarringly interrupt this part, because it’s not going to

PART 11 …A GOOD LOOK IN THE MIRROR

Now you’re all caught up with where our dear sweet Johnny boy is in his life and mostly perpetually will be,

we can continue with the rest of the story.

———

Oscar swam out of the dirty Aqua-Pack canyon very calmly and slowly, knowing (thinking) that he was, for sure, going to die because of Jonathan killing him. So this gave him a lot of liberty in whatever he did.

Regardless, Oscar was now back home in the cave.

He was silently awaiting the day our dear old sweet innocent Johnny boy would return.

What he really wanted to do was go try to find (unnamed) but he didn’t quite care enough, knowing that it would be near-impossible if he didn’t know the guy’s name.

So he stayed back and started mentally preparing and gearing himself for our dear old sweet innocent loving Johnny boy, angel boy. :)

———

After Konnor got rejected from government jobs, he had no choice but to go to “Europe”, except this time with no friends and no money.

Hot diggity dam.

———

Oscar, fully armed, had spent every day for weeks awaiting the return of Johnny Angel Boy Oh My Goodness He Is So Amazing Angelic Wonderful Dear Old Loving Sweet Kind Generous King Of Gratitude Savior Of The Universe.

But, instead of The One And Only Johnny Very Kindest God Soul Amazing Great Cool AngeOscar instead got Konnor in a ripped up, burnt top and dirty and stained jeans.

Oscar put a finger to (unnamed)’s mouth.

“Shhhh, sh-sh-sh-tsh-tsh-ttsssshhhhh.” “What is it?”

“Blink twice if Johnny’s behind you.” “Wha- why?!-“

“BLINK TWICE, GODDAMN IT!”

“I got cured.”

“What?!”

“I had a surgery in America. I’m tumor-free now. The surgery and radiation cured me. But then they banished me.”

“You didn’t even send a postcard! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because then I can do this,” said Konnor slowly before he rose like a shadow upon Oscar and stabbed him six times in the heart with an old dagger.

———

PART 12 …EPILOGUE

———

Berlin, Faux Germany, April 1965

Oscar walked along the grassy fields of Berlin. A bustling city it was indeed, but it never failed to preserve nature and wildlife.

The nuclear families and mass civilization never knew that Oscar had existed.

His life was of no importance to them.

They didn’t know the truth.

He didn’t care at this point. All of this, his whole journey through modern urban culture, was nothing but a cold reminder that nothing mattered anymore. No one would ever know.

When Oscar had awaken from the dead, the first thing he wondered was,

Where’s Konnor?

But Oscar soon learned that the Cancer had killed him.

That means there was no funeral.

Anyone out of the very small group who had known Oscar still probably thought that he was alive and well.

And the thing Oscar was most deeply terrified about was that he didn’t seem to really care.

He knew full well that he was destined to wander this city and watch it disintegrate until everything went to black and there was nothing to wander anymore.

Just nothingness.

And thank you for reading my confusing, poorly-plotted fairy tale about cancer in America.

——————

FIN

9/29/2020 - 5/23/2023

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ancient-mystical-features · 2 years

Text

the meh series

February 4, 2022

Milkis

The plate has been drying up for about an hour now. I need to do the dishes. I need to start with the project proposal. Yet here I am mindlessly scrolling. I'm trying to be patient with people. We've given so much yet they give less than the minimum. This entry is a mess.

🌙

February 7, 2022

7:30

I woke up at 6, then slept every ten minutes until 7:15 as my series of alarms go off.

🌙

February 10, 2022

(parentheses)

I haven't been taking care of myself lately. I've always been sleeping really late, rarely eating breakfast, and having late lunches. I'm doing well emotionally though. It's just that, a lot has been going on academically (I've been monitoring each student's progress from my class and handling a huge chunk of responsibility with Gwyn as project heads for our culminating activity) and on orgs as well as my personal projects (I finished that on tonight though, turns out editing said ridiculous videos was gonna take way more than a couple hours which I had not expected, but it turned out really well). None are internal or personal issues, though, and I'm glad. Emotional stability keeps me going (for now). I've just been really busy. And it's only the fourth- (or is it the third?) week of class so it only gets worse from here.

The best part about this, though is I take ridiculously long breaks in the early afternoon to recharge. I take around an hour max of lunch time, enjoying my meal in front of a device while watching something. I wanna start watching The Woman in the House from the... whatever the long title was. PLDT is currently down so this will surely take a huge chunk of my mobile data.

🌙

February 12, 2022

*sigh*

I'm taking a break today.

🌙

February 13, 2022

day two

I'm doing well. I'm taking another break like I usually do on Sundays.

🌙

February 14, 2022

meh

I didn't do much today, nor did I feel like doing much. I could be feeling burnt out or lazy, I can't tell which. But since I still have a few hours before afternoon ends, I'll try doing something.

🌙

February 25, 2022

feeling better

I was a mess and all over the place and emotional and I tried writing and had to redo it countless number of times so I decided to clean my room instead. I'm feeling better now. I've been putting off cleaning my room for weeks now. But I've finally cleaned it and I feel better. This entry is a mess ep. 2.

🌙

March 1, 2022

meh

Another day of that. I get lots. I have initially written something for this but I am hesitant on sharing it.

🌙

March 3, 2022

attention span

Lately, I have been wasting my days in ways I do not want. There are ways to waste my time wisely, but I have not been doing well with those. I'm getting addicted to watching my Facebook friend's mydays even though I honestly don't care about most of the stuff in it, since it's mostly content I don't relate to. I've also been spending so much time on YouTube shorts on videos I don't even like. I've always told people that I never create an account on TikTok so I won't get addicted, which is true, but right now YouTube shorts is doing the same effect. For some reason it's just so easy to fall to the trap of these social media platforms and waste a good portion of my day in it. I always feel miserable after a good amount of time so even *I* am left to wonder why I stay anyways. Where's the Meca who immediately does a task once it's assigned to them? Where's the person who does some of the tasks at least a week in advance fueled with self-gratification of doing stuff and feeling good while doing it? Where's the person whose creative juices overflow out of the cup or the one who can juggle a million stuff at once? She's not gone, she's just not here yet.

🌙

March 8, 2022

Remember the entry from yesterday? It didn't last for days. It lasted for three hours. t h r e e. After that, I was swallowed into an overwhelming state of anxiety that came out of nowhere. I couldn't sit still nor could I do anything. My friend pointed out that I might have been burnt out, which was something I hadn't considered. That night, I booked a counseling session with our guidance counselor so I could get help and to put me out of this pattern. Turns out I was being too hard on myself. I'm currently writing a letter to myself for the future, but I guess also an apology letter to my past.

🌙

March 9, 2022

sick

Yesterday I had some rest to cope with a burn out. Today a probably-fever was poofed on me by The Fates. I wasn't able to do anything today either. And my To-Do list is stacking up.

🌙

March 15, 2022

Today was meh. I'll try doing something later.

🌙

April 3, 2022

rest

Today was nice.

🌙

April 4, 2022

today was not nice.

I'm slacking. And I'm feeling very meh today which I feel a few times every month. I generally just lose all my energy and everything and just become pessimistic and sensitive and I don't wanna do anything but not doing anything makes me feel worse while at the same time it comforts me. I don't know man. It'll be over soon. I need to be nicer to myself.

🌙

April 9, 2022

meh

eh. I don't feel like writing.

🌙

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riku-writings · 3 years

Text

ADMIRATION

Pairing: Mitsuya Takashi x Fem! Reader

Summary: Reader likes to fantasize about The Home Economics Club Leader's Hands.

Warnings: Smut with a smol plot, Fingering.

A/n: I am not really sorry about this ꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡,,, inspired by that one megumi oneshot in wattpad that i read ages ago. . .((edited hundred times since i just realized now that some of the smut parts were messed up even though i checked it multiple times,,, I'm sorry for the confusion i hope i got the order right ಠ,_｣ಠ)

Wc; 2k

It started with just an innocent admiration of him being a charming dude, that's all. The guy's a good student, an overall husband material with his sewing and cooking skills. He was heaven sent with his overall visual ( dyed hair, piercings and his eyebrow slits). Everyone knows he's a delinquent because of that Pehyan dude who would fight with Yasuda-San just to excuse mitsuya out of the club. Despite his delinquent bg, Mitsuya was respectful and patient. Making every girl and boy swoon over him.

A bad boy with a soft hubby side. Best of both worlds they would say.

You were part of it. The Home Economics Club, they were lying if the whole club wasn't a simping club for the one and only Mitsuya Takashi. It was only yasuda and you who took the club for extra credits. The others well, you could say they were there to see him. Eitherway everyone was cooperative and hardworking.

Not only were you with him in that club. You were his classmate. Even better, his seatmate. You always get a view of his charming side profile.

You find yourself just staring at his features, from his long lashes to his pointed nose, down to his lips. Sometimes his tongue would dart out, out of pure concentration. (You noticed this whenever you try and get his attention to check your work in the club)

Your eyes always latching itself down to his hands. Not that you're a complete freak but you appreciate it. Like if someone asked you what body part attract you the most. You would definitely answer, hands.

His hands were the prettiest especially when its enclosed with those rings that has a cross engrave on it. It was veiny, fingers elongated and a bit bony. Nails cleanly cut. His wrist always had a silver bracelet on it. You don't know why was that attractive.

You had an unpopular opinion that it was soft to touch. You wonder if your thoughts were true. You can feel yourself blush at the thought of him just holding your hand.

You can't help it but you just stare at them with pure admiration. Due to this, you noticed how he liked twirling a pen around his middle and index finger. Fascinated, you tried it once, though you failed. You not knowing he was looking at your failed attempts. Grinning.

"y/n are you listening?" A voice called pulling you out of your own embarassing thoughts. You look up at the owner of the hands you've been staring at for a while now.

"U-uhm yes?"

"Tell me how did you end up with this then?" Mitsuya raises his brow, your messed up fabric lifted up by him. The girls around you giggled at your clumsy behaviour. You retrieved it. "Ehm, I'm sorry leader can you explain it again?"

"Alright, listen this time dummy" He says with a teasing grin, ruffling your hair gently. He sat next to you. Using the seam ripper to remove your mistakes. You just stared at his fingers pointing at where you should redo it.

You wondered how he would shove it in your mo—

You mentally slapped yourself. As you crossed your legs together at the sudden image that came over your mind. "You okay? y/n?" Mitsuya stared at you noticing how you pressed your thighs together. "Hmhm" You responded.

"Leader! can you check this?" Another called out for mitsuya. He stood up and pats your shoulder.

"alright, I'll leave it to you then" He smiled.

The next days you tried to scold your mind for having intrusive thoughts of Mitsuya and his hands. Unfortunately, your mind developed a sudden kink with it. Making every imaginary situation more. . . . lewd.

"Hey Y/n! Hold up your hand" Your classmate suddenly called you lifting his hand towards yours. You knew exactly what he was trying to do, since he's been busy tryna do that with the other girls this morning. "Eh? I don't want to." You replied.

"Bet if mitsuya did it, y/n would do it!" Another classmate of yours shouted from the back. You raised your middle finger, continuing on cramming your homework.

"Leader~ Can you do that for us~" The boys teasingly called mitsuya. Who was back from his lunch raising an eyebrow at them. Hands pocketed "Do what?"

"We're just comparing hand sizes" They shrugged lifting up their hands. "Y/n won't let us~~"

"Eh? Stop bothering y/n." Mitsuya say in his deep voice his feet landing a hit on their butts, before proceeding to you. The men in the back groaned.

Bending to meet your gaze. He grinned "Now you owe me, work on your missed templates with me later" The lilac haired boy reminded. You just rolled your eyes on him mocking a tongue out. He chuckled. "And I thought you just saved me, leader."

You stayed with him in the club room. Doing your templates beside him. Him just handstitching a bunny like doll. The room slowly darkening as the sun sets. He turned on a lamp beside his table. Slowly the other girls started to leave the club room, waving their goodbye's to Mitsuya.

"Hmmmm you've been spacing out lately, are you okay?" He coughed softly referring to your messed up works recently. Eyes going to you.

"Me? spacing out?" You acted dumb, you scoffed in a fake manner. Brushing your hair with your fingers to shake off your stiffening state.

Not meeting any of his gaze, you just continued to sketch.

Did he figure it out? Did he catch me staring at his hands? Nah I need to stop overthinking.

"Alright then." Silence invaded the whole club room again. Your eyes roamed around realizing the rest of the girls left already leaving you two alone.

"Hold your hand up." Mitsuya suddenly commanded. Eyes going to him, you raised your brow. "I wanna know— our hand difference." He explained raising his hand infront of you. Placing his doll down the table.

"You know the boys in our class are just a bunch of perverts right?" Speaking like a fucking hypocrite, your actions didn't match up with your words. Almost instinctively, you faced him holding them up. He pressed his against yours.

Your insides melt at this gesture. Your theory confirmed that he has actually, soft hands.

"You have cute small hands" His lips curled up, slowly his fingers intertwined with yours, locking it with his. "Well yours rough" You lied, cheeks burning as you looked at your connected hands. "Is that so?"

Abruptly, mitsuya pulled you close to him. Making your other hand rest on top of his shoulder. His face centimeters away yours. Lips almost brushing.

"So is this what they're trying to do with you?" He asks in a low voice his eyes piercing through you. Craning his neck, curious.

"Yeah. . . " You broke eye contact. "Good thing I stopped them." He chuckled, eyes closing. He leaned back. Patting your head.

Funnily, that interaction with him didn't stop your thoughts. Actually it made your whole dirty secret worse. Just seeing him tapping his fingers on his lips as his chin rested on his palm. Made your mind run thoughts about the things his hands would do to you.

You leaned back looking around the morning peace in the clubroom. You were always the first one to go here. Since it's more quiet that way.

You closed your eyes craning your neck side to side. Loosening up a bit.

What would his fingers feel wrapped around your neck— no. no.

You shifted on your seat, pressing your thighs together. Mentally slapping yourself.

Changing your attention, your sight caught your pen. Picking it up you tried to do that cool trick again. Trying to twirl it around in between your middle and index finger.

"Ohhh you're trying to do it again?" Mitsuya popped out of nowhere. You jolted a bit, making him laugh. You clearly didn't see him coming in.

He hovered behind you, his chest pressed on your back as he rested his hand on your desk right beside yours. He leaned in observing your half-done project. "Again?" You asked head turning towards his face.

"Well I saw you trying to do this"

He pulled his other hand up grabbing your pen, his fingers did it in ease. "no need to brag leader-san" You tell him grabbing your pen back. "Looks like you're gonna stay with me again later" Mitsuya mentioned pointing at your work.

After classes you proceeded to your clubroom already, knowing you're gonna take so long with your project. Though you were greeted by yasuda leaving you with her tasks because apparently she also had friday plans like the others. The others always had friday plans that it would leave you, yasuda and mitsuya with the work.

"It's okay yasuda-san! I promise to clean up and remind leader to lock the door!" You assured her, she then finally nodded. "Fine fine— Also don't let that slimy delinquent distract leader" She added, you nodded giving her a big thumbs up, she then waved her hands leaving you all alone with the mess of excess papers and fabric from this morning.

You tied your hair as you clean up the place before doing your own project. You actually sat on the front desk as you look around feeling satisfied. Finally continuing your hand stitch. (You gave up after breaking 3 needles into half with your machine.)

You stay seated on the front desk, comfortably doing your own project. Humming a few songs here in there. The door then slid open.

"I'm guessing yasuda san has plans?" Mitsuya came in seeing you on his desk. "yup" You nodded eyes focused on your stitch. Sudden fingers gripped your knees.

"You should stop manspreading in that skirt" He scolded you pushing your knees together. You shivered at his touch against your skin. Due to this sudden awareness of his hand still gripping your lower thighs— you accidentally pricked your finger on a needle.

"Ouch." You hissed as you saw your finger starts to ooze out blood. "You're so clumsy" Mitsuya clicked his tongue removing the cloth on your hands bringing it down to the side. He grabbed your hand and started sucking on your finger.

"U-uhm" You widened your eyes as you saw the sight of mitsuya sucking your index finger. You blushed profusely at this. "Eh? I- I — you didn't have to do that" He finally let go of your finger.

"I don't have bandages on me—plus that always does the trick" He says wiping it. You just nodded looking around. "Tsk what is it that got you distracted again hm?" He questions furrowing his brows he leaned closer to you. He layed his hands on the table, locking you in.

"Ugh you really want me to say it huh?" You groaned. He craned his neck to the side. Waiting for you to continue. "Okay— I may have a small admiration towards your hands. . ."

"Admiration?"

"Well it was honestly innocent at first until it got all dirty and as much as I wanted to get it out of my head you suddenly do things to me"

"And what was my hands doing?"

"Mitsuya . . "

"No dove tell me" He said as the choice of endearment shoot straight to your core. Making you shift on your seat.

"hm shoving it in my mou—"

Mitsuya shoved his middle and index finger inside your mouth. Your cheeks burn at the sudden action. His other hand held your waist, holding you closer. "You like this?" He asked with hooded eyes. Your tongue twirled around his finger, he slowly discarded them letting out a popping sound as it came out of your lips. Feeling your chest warmed up down to your lower belly.

"Is this why you're so distracted lately? because you're too busy thinking about my hands?" He then held your chin with his fingers as he hummed. Lips inching closer to yours. You just nodded feeling feverish. "Do you want me to kiss you?"

Once again you nodded. You can feel the growing lust underneath your skirt. Pressing your thighs together to relief the heat. Mitsuya following the movement. His eyes went back to pierce through yours.

"Say please" He smugly commanded. You pouted.

He taps your lips. Wetting it with your own spit.

"Please kiss me."

Mitsuya leaned in to claim your lips, you lightly gasped as his lips finally touch yours. Closing your eyes, you melt into his kiss. He smirked at his before his hand on your waist went up to your hair tie, pulling it to let your hair flow against your shoulders.

He then licked your lips, instinctively you opened your mouth allowing him to enter his warm wet muscle inside. You whimpered at this, feeling your feverish state get warmer. Spreading all over your body. He caressed your cheek as he kissed you deeper. His other hand caressing your side, slightly brushing up against your chest. You hummed against his lips.

Biting onto your bottom lip he licked it. Before leaning back, placing a soft kiss on yours before taking in your whole panting visual.

"Do you want me to touch you, dove?" He questions, his thumb now pressing onto your bottom lip. His left hand went down on your thighs, softly pinching them.

"Please touch me, takashi"

With that his fingers indulged inside the band of your damp underwear. "Hm you're so wet, princess" He hummed letting his finger brushed up against your folds. You squirmed under his touch, your pussy clenching around nothing.

"Is this what you're thinking about in class?" He whispered next to your ear, placing a hot kiss on your cheek. You nodded, biting onto your red lips. As his middle finger continued to slide so easily with your wet slick. Up and down teasing both of your sensitive clit and your pleading hole.

You then felt the pad of his fingers teasing circles on your entrance, you looked at him with glossed eyes. He licked his lips seeing you practically begging for it.

His other hand held the back of your knees spreading your legs to gain more access. You leaned back supporting your weight with your hands.

Letting your skirt ride up, He bit his lips as he saw your ruined flimsy panties with his hand in it. You just looked at him with a pout wanting his fingers to penetrate your hole. "Please" You plead him trying to grind into his hand. Without caution he plunged his two fingers in your heat.

You bit back a moan. "Don't hold back now, dove." He said with a smug as he felt your hole clench around his fingers. "I-I can't takashi" You say feeling little under him. He chuckled at your pouting lips before placing a kiss on them. "Acting shy now huh"

Mitsuya curled his fingers inside making you squirm. "Don't move." He warned before pounding his hand into your writhing pussy. His long fingers hitting your soft spot almost immediately. You moaned letting your forehead clash itself against his. "You're taking my fingers so well baby. So noisy" He said referring to the slick slapping sounds of your wet pussy. You blushed at this ashamed on how you were making a mess on his hands.

"Aa you're so lewd— bet you've touched yourself multiple times thinking about this" He said adding another finger in your hole easily. You sobbed at the sudden feeling of fullnes inside "Hmm too much"

"Too much? you're a good girl you can take it" He says kissing your cheek once agaib. He thrusted his three fingers into your hole curling it up to feel your spongey walls clenching into him tighter.

"Mmn t-takashi—k-kiss" You mumbled feeling yourself itching up to your own orgasm.

"You want a kiss baby hm?" He hummed as his thrusts got harder and faster. Knuckles deep, the tip of his fingers hitting your sensitive spot. You purred nodding, He kissed your lips deeply making your moans muffled. You felt hot inside you as you panted trying to comprehend everything that he was doing to you. With that you felt your orgasm continue to build up. Your head leaned back breaking off his kiss, grinding back into his hand. Mitsuya felt yourself tighten continuing to hit on your sweet spot. Your own wetness beginning to drip down.

His thumb finally taking notice of your abandoned nub. He played with it. You squirmed as you feel it burn against his thumb.

"'m close" You squeak biting onto your lips. "Go on baby cum on my fingers" He said littering kisses on your neck, hands pounding into you harshly. With those words and his thumb rubbing your sensitive clit. Your thighs started to fidget. You closing your eyes shut as you panted.

You came onto his fingers. You let out a whiny moan as His fingers slowly ride out your high.

"Good girl" He said pulling his fingers out your panties. Your eyes opened seeing him cleaning his fingers clean with his tongue. He smirked as you lolled your tongue out. He placed his fingers on your tongue, letting you lick and suck them clean.

"You look so pretty like that, dove" He say as you finished pulling his fingers out popping out of your lips. He held your waist with his arms, moving you closer again. Leaning in to kiss you softly this time on your forehead. "How was that?"

"Better than what I imagined actually"

"C'mon it looks like we have friday plans too" Mitsuya said kissing your lips. Bringing you down the table. You smiled.

#mitsuya smut #tokyo revengers #tokyorev x reader #tokyo manji gang #takashi mitsuya #mitsuya x reader #mitsuya takashi #mitsuya x y/n #mitsuya headcanons #tokrev mitsuya

640 notes · View notes

ediths · 4 years

Text

The Best Kind Of Night

Pairing: Harry Styles x Reader

Word Count: 2.2k

Summary: After a long day filled with meetings and overbearing reminders of deadlines, Harry’s in need of a little time with his girl.

Warning(s): Stressed out H, a spa night, mentions of nudity (nothing explicit or sexual), and innuendo to some sexy time (but nothing to dramatic), fluff, not edited (i JUST had people beta read a piece for me and I don’t wanna bother them lmao)

A/N: anon requested: painting harry’s nails after he had a long day, followed by a bath together and cuddling. I’m currently working on a longer piece but I got this request and just had to write it (partially because of how cute it is and partially because i want to procrastinate for longer)!!!!! I have like, 15 other requests that are still in the works, so if you see me write someone else’s request and not yours, don’t worry, I’m getting to it!! also!!!! the gif has like, nothing to do with the piece i just really like it!!

Masterlist | Taglist | Request - Guidelines | Come Talk To Me!!

Reblogs help a lot and are greatly appreciated!!

When he was sixteen, he never thought that being a singer could be this hard. In his head it was simple: write songs, record the songs, go on tour. And when he was in a band, it still kind of seemed like that, especially because he had other boys to help him do everything.

But now he realizes that it’s a lot harder than he thought at sixteen, and sometimes he feels like it’s near impossible to do it on his own.

Every single day it’s “Harry, I need you to approve this” or “Harry, you need to redo this” or “Harry, there’s something that requires your immediate attention.” Sometimes it almost feels like it’s too much. There’s only so much he can handle before his brain feels on the verge of bursting at the seams with all the things that he has to do.

On days like today, where it was meeting after meeting, he’s drained. At the end of the day all he wants to do is go home and spend time with the love of his life. He wants to ask about her day and have her ramble on for as long as she wants about all the little things that made her day enjoyable.

That’s what he’s looking forward to when Jeff stops him and tells him that there’s yet another emergency meeting that Harry has to attend. He barely stops himself from audibly groaning about the prospect of having to sit through another meeting when he could be at home with his girl. The last thing that he wants right now is to go sit at a table with a bunch of people he sees once a week and do absolutely nothing but sign a paper or two. But he’s not really in the mood to push it off and then have Jeff mad at him, so he follows him to the conference room and takes his seat.

She can tell that he’s had a long day the moment that he walks through the door without his usual pep. Normally, there’s a smile on his face, albeit a tired one, and a twinkle in his eyes. Tonight, though, none of that’s there. It’s just a blank face, almost like he’s not entirely present.

“Hey, honey. Welcome home.” She greets as she pads over to where he’s kicking off his shoes.

“Hey, baby.” He mumbles. He sounds exhausted and she knows that he’s going to need some loving tonight so that he doesn’t go to bed upset about today.

“Wanna tell me about work?” She tries to gauge what exactly caused him to be like this. She knows that it has to be something to do with the business part of his musical career, but she needs to know exactly what’s gotten him to this point so that she’ll know what to do to fix it.

“Just meetings and Jeff badgering me about getting things done.” Before he can even finish the entire sentence, she has her arms wrapped around him.

She knows exactly what he needs to get his mind off of the stress and aggravation that’s weighing him down. Fortunately, it had been a while since he had paid enough attention to the details of his appearance to give himself a spa day, so she has enough room to give him the entire experience.

“Want me to paint your nails, H?” She suggests, knowing that he most likely does but just won’t openly ask for it.

‘You don’t have to do that, love.” He tries to assure her that it’s not something that’s required of her, but she can tell by the way that he slightly straightened up that the thought of having her redo his nails excited him.

“Nonsense, I want to do it.” She nudges him slightly to emphasize her point.

“Fine, if you insist.” He gives her a small grin, which she fully lights up at. She’s already getting him to destress and that makes her happier than just about anything.

She drags him to their bedroom and instructs him to sit on the bed. Once he complies, she walks over to the bottom drawer of her nightstand and pulls out the bag that she keeps full of nail products just for him.

Pulling out the nail polish remover and the cotton balls, she sits down beside him and adjusts everything to where she’ll be the most comfortable using it. She dampens the cotton balls with the remover and gets to work on stripping his nails of the polish. After a few minutes of rubbing away at his nails, she disposes of the used cotton balls and picks up the cuticle pusher.

“Please be gentle.” He all but whines when he sees the tool in her hand.

“I’d never hurt you, baby.” She coos, putting the pusher down to grab ahold of his hands.

“I know, it just scares me a little bit still.” She softens even more than she ever thought possible at his words. He’d always been a little weary about the nail tool, but she always made sure to let him know that he’d be fine. She knows that it can look a little intimidating, especially when she’s pushing his cuticles back.

“I’ll be careful, honey. I promise.” He lightly shuts his eyes and nods, signaling for her to continue what she was doing. She picks the pusher back up and takes her time pushing each cuticle back, making sure not to push too hard or go too fast.

After she’s done, he reopens his eyes and smiles at her. “Thank you, love.”

She leans up slightly and presses a quick peck to his lips. “It’s my pleasure, baby.” He blushes slightly at the pet name and it makes her heart swell in her chest. “Now, what color are we thinking?”

“Um, what color are you gonna do yours next?” He asks, looking up at her through his lashes.

“Probably pastel yellow. I’ve been wanting to do yellow for a while but I don’t think the neon would look good on me.” She slightly scrunches her nose at the thought of neon yellow nails and he chuckles lightly at how cute she looks.

“Then I think I’ll do pastel yellow too, if you don’t mind us matching.” The blush returns to his cheeks and she quickly agrees with the idea of matching him.

As she pulls out the perfect shade, he fidgets with the hem of his pants. Normally, this is something that would go unnoticed, but tonight everything is making her wonder how he’s doing.

“You alright, H?” He snaps his head up to meet her eyes and his hands stop all movement.

“Yeah, why?” He looks like a deer caught in headlights and she’s confused as to why he looks so nervous.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” He quickly nods his head and looks away. She decides to let the subject drop, but not even a minute later, he sighs and looks back over at her.

“Can we take a bath after my nails dry?” He rushes his words, like they burn his tongue.

“Of course, honey.” The smile that breaks out onto his face makes his dimples pop and she feels like her heart skips a few beats.

They fall silent while she finishes painting his nails and applying the top coat.

She’s just thinking about getting up to go run the water when he all but whispers her name. “Can you tell me about your day?”

“Yeah, what do you wanna know?” She maneuvers herself until she’s sat beside him instead of in front of him. He cranes his neck to the side to look at her and she motions for them to lay back on the pillows at the top of the bed.

“Dunno really. Just wanna know how your day went. Like…” He pauses for a moment so he can focus on getting comfortable without messing up his still damp nails. “Like, what you had for breakfast, how the drive to work was, what you had for lunch, if anyone was rude to you, that kinda stuff.”

Once they’re both settled into the pillows, she looks over at him. “I had pancakes for breakfast, they were really good. I put chocolate chips on them.” She reaches out to push a stray curl out of his face. “Um, the drive was alright. I listened to your songs on the way so it made it go by a little faster.” She pauses, immediately regretting telling him that. Yeah, she’s supportive but sometimes she finds it weird to listen to his songs in the car. It’s a feeling that she can’t quite put a finger on, but she’s scared that he’ll find it even weirder than she does.

“Which ones?” He urges her to continue, not even batting an eye at the fact that she listens to his songs even when he’s not around. But really, now that she actually takes a moment to think about it, why would he? He listens to his own songs, so why wouldn’t she?

“Um, ‘Sweet Creature’ was first, and then I put on ‘Fine Line’ and finished with ‘Golden’.” She reaches down to grab one of his hands. She lightly taps at the nail to see if it’s dry and finds that they’re completely set.

“Can we go take our bath now? You can keep telling me about your day there.” He basically whines out the words and she can’t help but chuckle.

“Of course, sweetheart. Come on.” She pushes herself up and out of bed and reaches for his hands. He gladly grabs onto her and lets her lead him to the bathroom.

“Thank you for this.” He stops right inside the bathroom door and spins her around and into his arms.

“You don’t need to thank me.” She mutters into his chest and he squeezes her tighter.

“Yes I do. You don’t have to do things like this for me.” She pulls back slightly so she can look at him.

“You’re right, I don’t. But I do it because I love you, H.” She runs a hand up his chest to the side of his neck. “And when you come home like you did today, I just wanna see you happy.”

“I love you too, baby.” He whispers before leaning down slightly to attach their lips. After a moment, she pulls back and moves away from him. He begins to pout before he realizes that she’s moving to start the bath.

He follows behind her and watches as she adjusts the water to the temperature that was just right for them to be able to sit in the bath together for as long as they wanted. She inserts the stopper into the drain and turns back around so she’s facing him.

“Can I undress you?” Normally when he asks that question, it doesn’t sound like he’s a little kid hoping to be allowed to get a new toy.

She nods her head and he closes the small distance between them. His hands immediately drop to the hem of her shirt. Before pulling it up and over her head, he looks at her again for confirmation. Her nod is all he needs to slip off the shirt and throw it into the counter. She hadn’t been wearing a bra, so he moves down to her sweatpants. Normally he would have taken a moment to admire her body, but that’s not what this moment is about.

After he slides her sweats and her panties down her legs, she kicks them off and moves to undress him. She takes her time unclasping all of the buttons on his shirt and carefully slides it down his arms. The shirt gets draped over the towel rack, as will his pants once they’re off. She may be ready to get into the bath with him, but there’s no way that she’s going to throw Gucci clothes on the floor without a second thought.

Before she goes to unclasp his pants, she reaches over and turns off the water that was filling the bath. When she turns back around, she sees that he’s already finished undressing himself.

“You’re so impatient.” She complains, although she’s not actually upset by it in the slightest.

“Just wanna be close to you.” He gives her his best puppy eyes and she immediately pushes him closer to the bathtub.

“Get in.” He does as he’s told, sliding through the bubbles and into the water. He makes grabby hands at her and she moves to get in with him. She steps into the tub and situates herself between his legs. Her back is to his chest and his arms instinctively wrap around her torso. The moment that her body relaxes into his she can feel him sigh in content.

She leans her head back against his shoulder and cranes her neck to try and look at him. “Feel better baby?”

“Much better. This is exactly what I needed.” He leans in and presses a quick kiss to her lips before pulling away and completely relaxing.

She takes a moment to admire how peaceful he looks. His appearance had done a full one eighty from the time that he had walked in the door until now, and she was glad to be the reason that he felt so much better.

She turns back around and gets comfortable before relaxing into his body.

As much as she hated seeing him stressed out and worked up, she loved having nights like these with him, and she’d never turn down the opportunity to pamper him.

Thank you so much for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it!! Again, don’t be afraid to reblog and leave feedback!

Permanent Taglist - @spidey-reids-2003, @jackiehollanderr, @scarletsoldierrr, @thewayilookatbacon, @parker-barnes-af, @lost-in-the-stars03, @kisses-holland, @josiemara, @god-knows-what-am-i-doing, @fanficscuziranout, @akila-stilinski , @babebenhardy @write-from-the-heart, @slytherinambitious, @miraclesoflove @quaksonhehe, @dummiesshort, @sleepybesson, @sunshine96love, @itstaskeen, @wotamelonsugar, @fallingfordolans, @missleahlin , @urbandcal, @5-seconds-of-mendes,

Harry Styles Taglist - @alwayshave-faith, @hufflepuff-always-and-forever, @sucker-09 @just-chillin-out-in-me-box, @xo-spidey, @shawnieeboyy,

#Zoey Writes #harry styles x reader #harry styles fluff #harry styles angst #harry styles smut #harry styles writing #Harry Styles #2020

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acetone-free · 4 years

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Getting the Dames and Dragons wiki up and running proper

Hello!!!

So I’ve been editing and adding to the Dames and Dragons fan wiki for about a year now. I’m an admin and bureaucrat and all that jazz but to be honest the wiki totally needs a revamp and I would really love some help with it!! If you would be interested in writing or editing some stuff please check out the bit under the cut!

Thank you! :D

First off: Transcripts

@camomilafil got the ball rolling on the transcript front in 2018, but since then only 19 have been completed. I’ve done a couple myself, so I know that they can be pretty high effort and time consuming. But at the rate that they’re going right now Torva will have been defeated and the Guardian’s will have started their true quest of destroying Dawson before episode 50 even has a google doc.

Creating transcripts not only makes the podcast more accessible, but they also make a super good information base for pages on the wiki. Writing episodes and character pages is made so much easier when you can CTRL F for keywords on a transcript doc, rather than having to re-listen to specific episodes.

At this point there are only four more episodes to transcribe for Into Avelis, but I think it would be really good if people were to begin transcribing later arcs as well. I would love to be able to stay on top of current episodes.

If you are interested in transcribing, you can find a guide on how to format here and the master doc of all episodes here. I’ve only added a little bit to the original rules of the transcribing doc, but I think they were helpful additions :). Keep in mind, you don’t have to transcribe a full episode, or even format any of it. Every little bit helps and even just doing a minute or two is awesome of you!

Secondly: Wiki Pages

Arc and Episode summaries

So far I am up to episode 16 for the summaries. I’m trying to transcribe a few episodes ahead because personally I find it way easier to write a summary with a transcript than while listening to the episode. However, you absolutely don’t have to have a transcript to write an episode summary. On the wiki I have created a page for every Arc so far (except for The Survivor's Ballad, I’ll get on that soon hehe), with an episode table so it should be pretty easy to see episodes that need summarising.

If you don't want to summarise an entire episode but do want to help, please, please, please feel free to go back and edit episode summaries from Arc 1. I made those about a year ago before I really had a good idea on how to summarise and trust me, those bad boys are rough to read. I’ve been planning on going back and redoing those for a while now lmao.

Otherwise, whole Arc summaries also need to be written. I’ve already done one for Arc 1, so that should give you a good idea on the type of detail needed.

For writing episode or arc summaries, I would say try to keep them around 1000 words and generally don’t write anything too meta. Try to keep it as in the world as possible. That being said, it’s totally cool if the summaries aren’t Serious Retellings. I usually try to do jokey subheadings and stuff like that.

There are a few more things I think are important to keep in mind while writing episode summaries, and if people express interest I am totally down in writing a guide to how I have been doing it. The best thing I think to do would be to go and read a couple of the summaries already on the wiki. Preferably from Arc 2 because I wasn't kidding about the quality of the ones from Arc 1.

Place and People pages

Hehe alliteration.

Just to get it out there: The main Guardians’ and Maeri’s pages totally need revising. They need summaries for their actions in each arc, as well as updates on their personality sections because these dudes have gone through character development. So if you wanna start somewhere, I’d say go ahead and do that.

Otherwise, here's what I think you should do if you want to write a character or location page: Choose your favourite character or location or item or whatever. Figure out exactly what episodes they are in, listen to them, take notes, and then write the page. If you’re feeling frisky, even transcribe the parts of the episodes that they appear in.

Once again, I think the best thing to do is to read a few characters or location pages to get an idea of the amount of detail needed as well as what type of sections you should write. Like, their personality and appearance and whether or not to separate their page into episode summaries or arc summaries for that location/character. If people want, I can also make a more thorough guide on how to write these pages.

To be honest I haven’t done many of these because I’ve been more focused on getting transcripts and summaries out. So far, however, I’ve been doing these pages as I go. If a new NPC is introduced and only appears for an episode or two, I’ll write those character pages as I’m writing the episode summaries. That being said, if an NPC is introduced and I know they’ll appear later down the line I’ll usually compile all information I have on them in a separate google doc and wait until later to write they’re page. The same goes for location pages, really. For example, I have a google doc full of a half-written page on Danmar that I haven’t published yet because I know that in about five transcribed episodes the party will be back there and I don’t want to have to edit it a whole bunch.

Thirdly: Editing

If you don’t really want to write an entire summary or don’t feel comfortable enough to do so but still want to contribute the absolute most helpful and important thing you can do it edit. The wiki is like, full of typo’s my dude. (Totally my bad, I’m really bad at catching them hehe). Not only that, but it would be really good if people were to fix any grammar issues or any incorrect information within the pages themselves. Broken links, missing info, inconsistencies in categorisation, all that good stuff.

You could also go through and double check transcripts that have been deemed ‘complete’ for any typos or formatting issues, if you wished. Absolutely anything and everything helps and it’s always good to have a second or third pair of eyes.

Fourthly: Where to start

Here’s a list of wanted pages on the wiki. For anyone unfamiliar with how fan wikis work, a red link indicates that the page hasn’t yet been written but has been linked in another page, and that’s where you come in, my dude.

You don’t have to write a full on, in depth complete page. Even just creating the page and beginning to summarise is great. That creates a basis for other editors, allowing people to build on what you have started.

If you want to start a transcription you absolutely have to read the formatting and editing guide, linked here once again. Do your best to follow those rules, but it’s okay if you forget or miss some here or there. That’s why other people double check your work! This is collaborative and you can’t be expected to do everything right in the beginning.

A Final Word

I think it would be cool if we got a few more people to semi-consistently edit and add to the wiki. I don’t expect many people, but any addition to it makes it a better compendium.

If anyone wants to start writing stuff for it but feels like they need direction please message me! I’m sure I can find something fun for you to do :). Again, I think I’ll write some more in depth guides for how to write pages on the wiki, but if you want to do transcriptions the instructions are already in place and good to go.

That being said, I don’t completely know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to write any of the cool formatting code and stuff that some wiki’s have, so if anyone is interested in helping create a more fancy-schmancy lookin’ wiki and knows how to do all that, it would be really cool if you could get in touch with me as well.

I would love to hear any other questions or suggestions! To anyone who chooses to help, thank you in advance!

#dames and dragons #maeri the survivor #maeri #fran #corbin #laika #slake

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writing-processing · 3 years

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TUA SECRET SANTA - AU Fix It!

Klave, Klaus and Five shenanigans, Dave and Luther bonding, and apocalypse aversion in season 1! Please enjoy @fanthings !!! I haven’t written a fic in a very long time but I had a lot of fun writing this. I’m sorry if it isn’t suuuper great as I had to forgo finishing editing so it could be in on time. But I’m happy with how it flows as is. Happy Holidays! <3 @secret-santa-klaus

They were done. The war was over and Dave and Klaus made it back to the states, their arms draped around one another’s shoulders. They’d found themselves in Texas with nothing but a couple satchels and a briefcase that Klaus would have refused to take his eyes off of if it weren’t for Dave’s smiling and relieved face.

Dave’s family welcomed him home with open arms, and Dave refused to leave his “buddy Klaus” whose family didn’t even write back when he’d write. (Really, Klaus wrote letters for Ben and had them thrown into the fire. Dave saw this only once and decided that it seemed complicated enough not to ask about… And yet...) Of course, Dave’s family took the lil oddball in as soon as he hit them with appreciation for Dave, but Dave wouldn’t let him have it and launched into the story of how Klaus had saved his life.

Soon enough, eleven at night came to pass and both soldiers retreated to Dave’s old room, ignoring instructions to set up the second mattress on the floor. At just past eleven that night, though, Klaus turned to Dave and came clean. About everything.

“Dave,” he breathed, hands shaking a bit. Dave moved to close the door before settling his hands over Klaus’ trembling ones. In a worried hush, he whispered, “What is it? Are you okay? Did everyone overwhelm you—”

“No,” Klaus said. “No they’re lovely.” He smiled.

“Then, what’s wrong?” As Dave asked this, Klaus’ eyes flitted towards his briefcase, and as he looked back at Dave, his nose scrunched before tears began to well in his eyes.

“Oh, honey.” Dave caught Klaus’ first few tears with his thumbs but soon, he had an armful of boyfriend and tears staining his best shirt. Still, he hushed this precious, precious man, and rubbed at his back soothingly. Once his tears subsided, Dave asked, “What’s your bag, sweetheart?”

Klaus giggled a bit and pulled away shaking his head. “Oh, you know...” He trailed off.

“Well? Why not sit down then?”

“That’d be good.”

They sat and after a beat, Klaus spoke. “Davey, I’ve gotta tell you. Something.” Dave moved a little closer to Klaus, if possible and looked at him so earnestly that Klaus’ heart melted all over again. He took a deep breath and continued. “It’s really, really gonna sound crazy, so I just need you to listen until I’m done. Okay?” When Dave nodded, Klaus launched into the details of his life, which could only best be described as ludicrous. Once Klaus finished explaining, Dave nodded solemnly and cleared his throat.

“Well,” he started. “Klaus, it would definitely explain a lot,” he laughed. “But I’m still not quite sure. Just. I— Wow. I never thought...” Klaus turned his gaze to his hands where he was picking at his cuticles nervously. Dave interrupted this by taking his hands again. “But either way. Real or not, I still… Well, Klaus, I think you would know this by now. Maybe not, but I love you.” Klaus inhaled sharply.

“Really?” he whispered.

“Yeah,” Dave said with complete certainty. “Yeah, Klaus, of course. A-and I— you don’t have to—”

“No, Dave, yes. Yes, I love you too.” Klaus laughed a little. “I love you too.”

Dave smiled so bright, Klaus just had to kiss him. Only, then, the door opened.

It was well past 3 in the morning by the time Dave and Klaus were back outside the front door of Dave’s childhood home. Their few belongings in hand, the two men made it to a nearby park to talk over what would be next. Dave’s mother had made it very clear that Klaus would never be welcome again, and that Dave made it clear that he chose Klaus. He only stared blankly while they walked, not a tear shed.

“At least you met them,” he whispered once they’d sat down on a bench. Klaus fiddled with the briefcase.

“Dave, I’m so sor—”

“No, Klaus. It’s, well.” Dave paused. A single tear dropped. “Well,” he continued, “I don’t think I quite expected much else, if the truth ever did come out. I guess it was better sooner than later in case anyone got attached, or-or tried to set us up with some girls down the block or somethin.”

“Doesn’t make it hurt any less, Davey,” Klaus reassured, as he set his head on Dave’s shoulder. They both sat like that, contemplative in their own rights, until the sky started to turn a slightly lighter shade of blue and the birds started to interrupt their thoughts. Klaus sighed.

“Dave, d’you remember what I told you tonight? About, y’know, the future?”

“Klaus,” Dave started. “Is that what you want? Cause, you know I’d drop everythin’ for you right now. But are you sayin’ you’d go back to it all for me?”

“It’s just...” Klaus hesitated. “You know we could be together there. It’s not like it is here. We wouldn’t get hassled. And— well, I can start over. Ben always said it wasn’t too late to change my mind. I never did until. Well, until I knew I loved you, Dave. It’s just that you’ll be stuck there. We can’t come back n visit your mom or redo anything, you know that?”

“Well, ain’t that life anyhow, Klaus?” Dave smiled at him in the morning rays of daytime and Klaus knew he wanted this, too.

“Then,” Klaus said, standing. “How about we test this briefcase, yeah?”

“That sounds like a plan to me.”

They were gone in a flash.

The two veterans silently tiptoed into the academy and safely made it into Klaus’ childhood bedroom.

“Well, I dunno about you, but I need a long bath. Haven’t had one in a long time. Wanna join me?” He smiled serenely, both knew that this wasn’t a suggestive suggestion, however suggestive it could have been. So Dave smiled back and shook his head, looking around.

“I think I’ll have a look around. A bit of revenge for your time at my ol’ place...”

“Take your time, then, babe,” Klaus said, already rummaging for a towel. “I’ll be a bit. If you get tired, go ahead n get some sleep.”

“I will,” Dave promised. And so, Klaus readied his bath and left his headphones in his room, just in case Dave needed something

Halfway through his bath, though, came a series of shouts that sounded distinctly homicidal and threatening.

“WHO ARE YOU? The commission absolutely would not have sent you. How did you get this briefcase, and what is your business here?”

“Um, sorry, I’m with Klaus? He’s in the bath.”

“Yeah, right.”

It was Five.

Klaus scrambled for a towel and burst into his room after barely securing said towel around his waist.

“Five, goddamn it. This is Dave. Chill out little man.”

“Klaus,” Five sneered. “Why would you bring a man from another time to 2019? Jesus, do you understand nothing of time travel?”

“I had to.”

“Yeah, okay. Great. We’re dealing with this after I’ve used this.” He said this while taking the briefcase. “Good bye.” with that, Five was gone. After an exasperated giggle, Klaus closed the door and finished drying off before the two fell into a deep rest in his childhood bedroom.

They awoke to a loud clanging coming from downstairs sometime the next day. The both of them got some clothes on and rushed downstairs to find a drunk Luther in the sitting room, while an upset Ben followed them. Overwhelmed, Klaus turned to Dave.

“Hey honey, this is Luther,” he said, glancing at Luther worriedly. “He needs to sober up a bit and get out of his head. Can you talk to him? I have to go deal with something else.”

“Of course, Klaus. Just come back soon, okay?”

“I’ll try.” He smiled tightly, eyes shifting, before he kissed Dave’s cheek and wandered off, mumbling to something on his way out. Dave turned to Luther.

“So, Luther, yeah?”

Things came to a head on the night of Vanya’s concert, which Klaus and Dave were invited to when Klaus had gone to introduce Dave to her. Dave was taken aback by the world he’d been thrust into but he didn’t think he’d come across someone thinking it okay to lock someone up. The army didn’t lock people up when they were dealing with PTSD. Well, they didn’t really do anything, but this certainly was not part of it.

“Luther,” Dave started. “I know you’re scared. I understand. I don’t really know much of what’s going on, myself… That’s not the point though. This isn’t something, someone we can just lock up and put away. We need to help her.”

There was silence. No one was sure of what Luther was thinking but after another moment, he surprised everyone by turning open the lock and letting Vanya out. Klaus ran in and grabbed his sister, Diego and Allison on his heels.

The night passed and Five cornered Klaus.

“What changed? Did I save the world? Is it over? Where’s Vanya?”

“Vanya’s fine.” And Klaus explained everything, with the occasional input from Ben or Dave. When he was finished, Five was quiet.

“Is everything okay?” Klaus asked.

“I think so,” Five laughed, actually laughed. “Klaus, I think you saved the world!”

“Me?” Klaus looked at Dave. “What?”

“Yeah, it makes sense. You’re the only other factor here, and I really don’t think it was me. If you hadn’t gotten a hold of that briefcase, I wouldn’t have known for sure that it was Vanya, but you also wouldn’t have brought Dave back or gotten sober enough to have Ben tell Vanya what was going on while she was in the bunker. God. Wow.”

And so the family celebrated and moved forward, past April 1st, 2019, and past the trauma that had been uncovered, into the life ahead of them.

#klave #klaus hargreeves #dave katz #tua #the umbrella academy #luther hargreeves #five hargreeves #tua secret santa #tua secret santa 2020 #im posting this at like the last 30 mins in the day it was due to be posted by so forgive me please #i hope you like it because i really did put a lot of thought into the outline and planning of it but i just havent written in a long time #much love!

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redeadepression · 3 years

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Seven Minutes | John Marston x (My OC) Karmen Davis Cassady

I was inspired by reading @inkrabbit’s Seven Minutes in Heaven! Go and read it if you haven’t already! Read it last night and spent all night and today thinking about what it would be like to be forced to play SMIH with your bestie John.

I barely edited this. Enjoy!

Characters: John Marston, Karmen Davis (Cassady) | Modern AU Setting Tags: Fluff, Getting together, friends to lovers, kissing, making out, Modern AU Word Count: 2767

Summery: Modern AU John Marston gets roped into playing Seven Minutes in Heaven with his friends at a party.

~~~~~~~~

John kept himself quiet with a swig of his drink as his friend’s raved excitedly about which game they wanted to play next. They’d just finished a few rounds of Never Have I Ever and John was busy feeling a little uncomfortable at how sober he still was compared to some of the other party guests.

He’d never really realised how little he’d experienced in his life until everyone had started to use the game as a platform for bragging. Shouting out their wildest stories before proudly taking a drink and watching as the others in the room were forced to refrain.

But despite the crazy anecdotes there were also some pretty tame claims made.

John had felt sheepish every time he didn’t drink. The other men furrowing their brows in his direction until he’d started to drink anyway to keep them off his scent. Pretending to understand half of the things that everyone but him had seemed to experience and hoping to hell no one called him out and asked about it.

He never was good at lying on the spot.

“We could play seven minutes in heaven.” Sean suggested loudly. “Spin the bottle style.” He added, grabbing the nearest empty bottle of alcohol and spinning it around the tabletop to add flare to his suggestion.

A collective groan rolled out around the room as he argued that it would be harmless fun.

“We’re nearly thirty.” Karmen argued back, stopping the bottle in it’s place right before it fell from the counter.

“Some of us are over thirty.” John pointed out with a smirk directed towards Arthur.

The older man sneered at the comment. Thinking for a moment before placing his drink down on the edge of the counter and taking the empty whiskey bottle out of Karmen’s hand.

“You know what?” He asked lightly as he turned to John. “Let’s play seven minutes in heaven. Could do you some good you goddamn loser.” He snipped, clapping John on the shoulder on his way passed.

John rolled his eyes, watching as the other party guests followed Arthur without question into the living room. He settled onto the floor and put the bottle down in front of him. Gesturing for the rest of them to sit in a circle around the container.

They obliged without argument and John wondered briefly if perhaps more of them had actually wanted to play than they’d let on. The squabbling at stopped quickly at Arthur’s suggestion and suddenly no one was objecting anymore.

“Fine.” John said tersely as he was pulled on the arm by one of the ladies. “But I ain’t kissin’ you.” He spat at Arthur as he settled himself next to the older man.

“New rule!” Sean shouted excitedly as he sat across from John. “You must go into the bedroom with whomever your bottle lands on. No redos unless your spin will result in incest!” He teased, grinning at his own joke at the others chuckled under their breath.

“So… What do we do in the bedroom?” Karmen asked as she settled herself beside Sean. She seemed less than impressed to be playing. It seemed out of character for her. She was usually up for anything.

Sean looked to her incredulously. Shaking his head as he reached for the bottle.

“Whatever ye’ want.” He answered simply, spinning the whiskey with vigour. Silence descended on the group as they waited to see who Sean would be leaving the circle with.

The bottle landed on Karen and he raised his brows at her seductively.

“What if what we want is nothing?” She asked flatly, clearly not amused.

Sean barked out a laugh, rising to his feet and holding out his hand for her to take.

“Aye, that ain’t nice.” He scolded, as she took his hand. “New rule.” He cried suddenly, turning to address the group as Karen wrapped a hand around his waist with a sly grin. “Consent must be given and honoured in the bedroom.”

“Also, literally everywhere else.” Charles added as Sean and Karen disappeared into the nearest room. The click of the lock echoed around the living room as the other party guests sat awkwardly until one of them dared to speak.

“So…” John began, making the others chuckle. “We’re just supposed to sit here and wait while they have sex?” He asked, looking around for an answer as everyone began to return to the conversations they had been having before Sean had rudely interrupted them with his suggestion.

He looked to Karmen, catching her eye from across the circle and she shrugged in reply. Turning to Sadie as she was asked a question about her job.

As it turned out seven minutes was a painfully long time. Especially when no one was timing it. It had taken a good half an hour for the couple to emerge by which point the other guests had moved away from the whiskey bottle and gone back to mingling with one another.

The game forgotten as Javier had started to play his guitar and Mary-Beth had started a sing-along.

“Aye, aye!” Sean shouted as they re-entered the room. “What’s goin’ on here? I thought we were playin’ a game!” He yelled as the guests turned to him in surprise. Having forgotten all about them in the interim.

“Oh right.” Arthur laughed. “Forgot I was tryin’ to get little Johnny here to loosen up.” He teased, gesturing with his head back towards the living room. The other party-goers followed him as they did before. Settling back down into their places. Murmurs of annoyance flittering around the circle until Arthur passed the bottle to Karmen.

She sighed, taking it and placing it with a clink on the floor in front of her. The group fell silent once more as they waited for her to spin it.

“For the love of God someone time it this time.” Sean interjected as she placed her hand on the glass. “I think I only have seven minutes in me.” He chuckled wryly as Karmen gripped the bottle and flung it across the floor.

John watched as the bottle skidded across the hardwood and came to a stop directly in front of him. He kept his eyes trained on it for a long second as a collective gasp bounced around the circle.

There was no mistaking the fact that the neck of the bottle pointed to him. No leeway on either side for him to shirk the responsibility onto another.

He smiled weakly, looking up and meeting her eyes across the circle. She stared back at him with an expression he couldn’t discern. A wily smile creeping onto her own face as she raised her brows at him in question.

“Well go on!” Sean shouted, throwing his arm out as he gestured for them to leave the group. They hesitated, both of them stuck in place as John chewed on his lip and shook his head lightly.

“You can spin again.” He chuckled awkwardly, reaching for the bottle and intending to pass it back to her as Arthur slapped his hand away lightly.

“Rules are rules John.” He chided, gesturing with his head for the two of them to leave.

John looked to Karmen apologetically. She shrugged once more, pushing herself to her feet and holding out her hand for him to take.

He obliged, taking hold and letting her hoist him to his own feet as they looked one another over uneasily.

“Remember, you’ve only got seven minutes.” Karen called to them in a sing-song voice, holding up her phone and showing everyone the app as Karmen pulled John by the hand away from the others.

“Ah, Johnny won’t need that long.” Arthur teased, earning himself a rude finger from John as he rolled his eyes again. Letting himself be led by his other hand into the nearest bedroom.

He walked inside behind Karmen, closing the door and locking it quickly before turning to her and sighing.

“We can just preten-.” He began, a gasp leaving him as he was cut off abruptly by her lips on his. He was shocked into inaction, standing awkwardly as she kissed him with passion.

She pulled away, furrowing her brows as he looked to her in complete shock.

“You wanna’ waste seven whole minutes?” She asked sarcastically, a quirk in her lips as he opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out.

“I…” He began, unable to finish the sentence as she pulled away from him completely.

“Do you not consent?” She asked, intending the question as a joke but her face falling seriously as he continued to stare at her in shock. “Uh, okay yeah.” She said after a moment. “We can just pretend.” She conceded, an awkward chuckle leaving her as he watched a flush appear on her cheeks.

“No, no.” John said quickly, coming to his senses and placing his hands on her hips. He pulled her towards him, crashing his lips against her as he wrapped her arms around his neck.

She kissed back hungrily, tongues mingling with one another they both squirmed under their growing arousal.

John had never even let the thought cross his mind that she might be attracted to him. They’d been friends for over twenty years and she’d never once shown a romantic interest in him.

He found her attractive, but he wasn’t about to go lusting after her like a dumb kid when he found their adult friendship so fulfilling in and of itself.

He was content with what they had.

He’d never wanted anything more from her. She was his rock. The one constant throughout his life that never changed. He’d never fathomed that they could be more than friends. The thought was exciting and utterly terrifying at the same time.

John pulled himself away quickly, pulling a moan from her as they parted. Her lust filled eyes looking him over in question as he swallowed thickly.

“Are… Are you?” He asked croakily, unable to get the words out as her eyes glinted at him through a coy smile.

“Are you?” She asked, understanding completely the hesitation in him. She had spent a lot of time thinking about this eventuality. Time that he had spent married to another. Time that he hadn’t had to recover after she’d broken his heart.

She was sure. She didn’t need to be asked. But she supposed perhaps he did. She had considered the way he felt about moving forwards from friendship to something more but she was quietly hoping that they didn’t need to speak about it. That he would just reciprocate physically and alleviate all need to have the talk she dreaded.

The one that might ruin this. The one that would turn serious too quickly for her liking and take away all possibility of just letting it happen naturally.

The one that made things awkward if they didn’t immediately fuck afterwards.

“I…” He stuttered again. “I don’t… think…” He stammered, unable to answer as she sighed softly. Pulling away from him completely and smiling weakly at the uncertainty on his face.

“It’s alright.” She assured, running a hand down his arm for lack of anything else to say.

“Wait.” John said quickly, stepping back into her personal space and locking eyes with hers as he tried again to get his thought out. “I want this.” He said simply. “More than… anything.” He gulped, inhaling shakily as she looked to him in surprise. “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more.” He said openly, emotion in his throat as he finally fished his thought from earlier. “But not… Like this.” He said finally, averting his eyes as she cocked her head in question.

“Then how?” She asked quietly, her hands coming to rest on his waist as he placed his on her hips, squeezing tightly. Swallowing against the arousal threatening to overtake him at the feel of her under his hands.

He had never realised just how much he had wanted to touch her like that.

They’d hugged a thousand times over the years but he’d never touched her body in this context. He’d picked her up before but he’d never felt the curve of her hips under his hands in quite the same way. Never gave himself permission to.

He’d always thought she was gorgeous but he’d never let himself really look at her and understand why. The colour of her eyes and the freckles on her cheeks were nice and platonic reasons to look at her and think she was beautiful. But the way her thighs hugged the jeans she was wearing, her cleavage peaking through her cropped tank top and the way her tongue darted out to lick at her ruby lips; were all things he’d not have noticed about her in any other context.

“Dinner?” He asked softly, after taking a moment to really see her. The word croaky in his throat as he tried to act nonchalant. His erection straining against his fly as he tried not to think about the fact that this was new territory for them.

“Dinner?” Karmen scoffed, a giggle leaving her lips as she looked up at him with a mix of amusement and empathy. “We have dinner all the time.” She snickered, taking another step closer and pressing herself against him. Gasping at the feel of him pressed against her belly as he subconsciously tried to hunch away from her.

“Uh…” John faltered, trying desperately to ignore the feel of her against his member as he attempted to act the gentleman. “What do the kids call it?” He rasped, lightheaded as she pressed herself closer, arms moving up to wrap around his neck once more. “Netflix… something…” He mumbled. Closing his eyes as she pressed her lips against his and kissed him softer than before.

He huffed into the kiss, wrapped his own arms around the small of her back and dragging her flush against him before repositioning his hands on her waist. Hips grinding subtly against her as he kissed her back fervently.

“Netflix and chill.” Karmen answered, smiling against his mouth as he hummed in agreement.

“That?” He asked, softly, only breaking the kiss for long enough to murmur his word.

“I guess.” She sighed, feigning disappointment as her hands curled in his hair. Heartbeat in her ears as she felt his hands tighten on her sides.

His hard length pressed insistently against her as she moved her mouth against his greedily. Lapping up every quick second of privacy as they moved together as one for the first time in their lives.

“Two minutes!” Someone called impatiently from outside the door, making the them both jump.

They pulled apart out of instinct, staring at one another for a long minute before both bursting into fits of laughter. They were a sight to behold. Shocked, aroused and dishevelled.

John felt himself doubling over at the stunned expression on Karmen’s face. The redness of her cheeks as she tried and failed to look at him seriously.

Karmen cackling at the deer in headlights expression on his flushed face as he tried to discreetly adjust his erection so it wouldn’t be viable to the rest of their group.

She moved towards him once more, hands holding him still before she brought them to his head. Raking her fingers through his tussled hair as she tried to straighten it before licking at her thumb and wiping at the lipstick on his swollen mouth.

John grinned against her thumb. Unrolling one of his sleeves, placing it to her mouth and trying to even up the colour on her lips and wipe it away from where it wasn’t supposed to be.

They both giggled like idiots, suddenly stopping their ministrations after a moment. Hands falling to their sides at the same time as they accepted unanimously that it was a fruitless endeavour and Karmen vowed silently never to buy Matte Super Stay lipstick ever again.

Firm knocking on the door next to them signalling that it was time to leave and making them both chuckle nervously as John held out his hand for her to take this time.

He unlocked the door, stepping out into the room and shrinking under the hoots and hollers from their friends as they both slunk back into their places in the circle. Letting go of their joined hands reluctantly to sit across from one another once more.

Knowing smirks and nudging elbows followed them both well into the night as they gazed at one another over the whiskey bottle. Excited for what was to come.

#john marston #karmen cassady #karmen davis #john marston x karmen cassady #john marston/karmen cassady #john marston x karmen davis #john marston/karmen davis #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #fanfic #fan fiction

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dreamiehrs · 5 years

Text

sweet chaos ➛ n.jm

genre: vampire!jaemin, mystery, a little fluff, jaemin’s also a skater (and a lil flirt), comedy, some angst

pairing: na jaemin x you

summary: you had never expected to get yourself involved with the high school’s mystery boy, na jaemin, but when you do, you can’t tell if it’s for the best or worst.

warning: some swearing, blood, a dead animal

note: the title is based on DAY6′s new song titled Sweet Chaos… go listen to their album right now!! kinda wrote this on impulse to be honest, but I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless!! (gif credit: @fashion-edit)

na jaemin was your high school’s biggest mystery boy.

he appeared out of nowhere one day, well, let me say that a little bit more realistically.

he was new in town, showing up in the middle of the school year. no one knew the reasoning behind why he moved when he did, and no one stayed around him long enough to figure it out.

he lived three houses down from you, which didn’t really matter to you as you weren’t looking to get involved with him.

he seemed like the loner type to you, but you were proved wrong as you would hear laughing down the streets late at night, the sounds of skateboard wheels scraping on the pavement.

when you couldn’t find it in yourself to fall asleep at night, you would find solace in admiring the said boy skating with some other boys. one night, when you had zoned out on his figure, he looked up to your window, your colored led lights changing colors ever so often.

you hadn’t noticed his stare, but when you finally had, it seemed like his eyes were piercing into yours, his eyes reflecting the dark red color your lights had changed to.

you ducked your head from his view, hearing the chuckle that came out of his mouth before skating away. you quickly finished up your homework before hopping into bed, hoping the rest of the night would lull you into a sweet dream.

when it came to school, you had shared a total of one class with jaemin, which was study hall. for a huge procrastinator such as yourself, that class was beneficial for your grades and your sleep schedule. you busied yourself with assignments from other classes, not noticing that jaemin was moving a seat closer to you every day in there.

until eventually, he was sat right next to you, you still not paying him any mind as you popped your earbuds into your ears and pressing play on a Spotify playlist.

you felt someone tap your shoulder and resisted the urge to turn and see who it was. it was probably someone messing with you, you concluded, as you continued to scribble down the answer to a math equation.

a few moments passed by until you felt the same tap on your shoulder, and this time you turned to your right to witness jaemin staring at something near your face.

you pause your music and move your hands toward your face. “what, is there something on my face?”

your question tears his gaze away from your neck and to your face, him chuckling at the fact that you covered your face with your hands.

“no, just wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime.” he moves your hands away from your face, a smirk prominent on his face as you give him a pointed look.

“sorry, but I’m gonna be awfully busy until the end of the school year.” you tear his hands away from yours and go back to your assignment, trying to ignore the warmness his hands emitted.

“with what? staying up until midnight, trying to finish your classwork, but being distracted by me instead?” he whispers loud enough for you to hear, the sight of your ears reddening almost making him chuckle again. however, he wanted to see how long he could make this facade last until you gave in.

you turn towards him once again, gulping at how close his face was to yours. you pull your mind out of the gutter and push his head back with one finger before whispering: “sorry, but I’m never going to spend longer than I have to with you, jaemin.”

your reply leaves him speechless, and a few seconds later he whispers back into your ear: “let’s see how long you can keep that act up, dear.” before gathering his things and walking out of the room.

alright, so maybe he was more complex than you thought and maybe you were more stubborn than jaemin thought.

you didn’t miss the way his canines were sharper than usual, getting a sight of it every time he would open his mouth. he was… concerning, to say the least.

you’ve always avoided him like the plague, but after this interaction with him, you avoided him even more.

…which was almost impossible because he always seemed to be on your case whenever he saw you in the hallways.

he would bug you a lot about skating and tutoring you in math, which made you wonder why he was so interested in you.

was it because you locked eyes with him that one night? was it because you always avoided him? was it because you were awful at math?

who knew at this rate…

during late nights, you recognized one of his friends that he would hang out with, named lee donghyuck. the two would always be messing around with the other, and it was all fun and games until donghyuck pointed to your window.

“she’s up again,” he whispers to jaemin, whose trying to play off the big leap his heart took when he looked up to your window, seeing you staring out of it mindlessly. “why does she do that, anyway?”

jaemin scoffs. “she’s an insane procrastinator,” he waves his hands to try to get your attention, but to no avail. “I even offered to tutor her in math, but she just won’t budge.”

“just stay persistent. she’ll warm up to you eventually.”

“yeah, right.” he looks back up at your window again, surprised to see your hazy eyes staring right into his. his throat suddenly feels dry with you staring at him so intensely, his eyes flashing a blood red before he can even realize it.

you can barely notice the color in his eyes, but you just wave it off as you’re sleepy and delusional.

he now has a lazy grin on his face, darting his tongue out to lick at his lips, and you decide to just call it a night because 1) you’re exhausted and 2) you prefer sleep over jaemin looking at you like you’re his next meal.

he still has your curiosity piqued, and the next day you stride up to him in the hallway like it was second nature to you.

“oh? done with the act already, dear?” the smirk on his face makes you want to puke, but you’d rather not do that in front of the entire school.

“stop calling me dear, it’s not like we’re romantically involved or something.” you flip your hair, revealing your neck to the male.

his breath slightly hitches at the sight of your pale, untouched neck, and he has to force himself to look straight ahead so he won’t do anything irrational.

he looks back down at you, gulping when he sees you already gazing at him.

“lost all your confidence now, huh? I knew you weren’t all that.”

you’re tempted to walk away from him, but something keeps you rooted in place as you continue to walk beside him, the same knowing smirk plastered on his face.

“if you let me tutor you, I’ll prove your statement wrong.”

you laugh loudly at his declaration. “oh, you’re on.”

you don’t see the way his eyes glaze over red when you look down to answer a text, him just wanting to pierce through your skin.

but not yet, he says to himself in his head. not yet.

the day after that, he stops by your house, only being a minute late to your scheduled tutoring. he rings the doorbell and your dog, named Beau, starts her endless stream of barking.

you answer the door in a sweater and shorts, startled at the sight of jaemin in front of you. he sees your expression and points to his bookbag. “tutoring?”

“…ah.” you wave him in and close the door behind him. he takes the time to take in his surroundings before removing his shoes and letting you lead him to your room.

“it’s kind of a mess, sorry.” he glances around to see a few clothes of yours failed to be put away and your bed unmade.

“don’t worry, mine’s worse than this.”

the two you settle down at your desk, the one that has a great view of the street below you. you pull out your notebook and some worksheets you struggled with.

“so this is the view you get of me late at night? I gotta admit, it’s a pretty nice one.” you don’t even have to look at his face to know that he’s grinning.

you just shake your head at the boy. “besides that, can you help me with a few of these problems?”

he peers over them and gazes at you. “you know that these are like, the easiest ones on the worksheet, right?”

you sigh. “yes, but the teacher just goes way too fast through them. can you explain it slowly to me?”

the next hour or two is filled with jaemin explaining how to solve the problem, you attempting it, getting it wrong, redoing it, and still getting it wrong.

but luckily, jaemin has outstanding patience with this type of stuff and breaks it down for you in a way that you can comprehend.

once you finish the sheet, after much struggle, you hop onto your bed and close your eyes for a millisecond. you’re not phased when you feel the bed dip down beside you, hearing jaemin’s quiet breathing to your left.

“hey, jaemin?” you speak up after some consideration.

“yeah?”

“why did you move here, anyway?”

he scoffs. “I’m not in a good position to tell you that right now.”

you want to dig deeper, but your mind tells you not to. “fair enough. can I ask you something else?”

“this interrogation is still ongoing? damn, I didn’t know you were that interested in me, y/n.”

you roll your eyes, not bothering to fuel whatever was floating around in his brain right now. “why are you so involved with me?”

he’s silent for a second before shrugging. “you just seem like someone who doesn’t take other people’s bullshit. I admire people like that.”

you nod slowly, taking in his words. you can feel your cheeks heating up at his statement, so you jump off of your bed, jaemin’s eyes following your every move.

“wanna grab something to eat?”

his ears perk up at this. “oh? is y/n asking me on a date?”

“no, you fool.” you grab your keys, phone, and wallet as jaemin takes his time to get up from your bed. you stare at him as he moves each limb of his body extremely slow before you walk over to him and drag him downstairs.

“gosh, you’re so aggressive,” he whispers in your ear and you almost smack him right then and there. “I thought I was the man in this relationship.”

“jaemin, would you just shut up already?”

you two hop in your car and you put your key in the ignition before speeding off to the closest diner. the wind blows your hair wildly, you laughing loudly as jaemin turns the music up louder.

you’re close to the diner when jaemin asks: “wanna know something?” he knows you cannot hear him over the wind and the music. “I’m not human.”

“what?!” you yell loud enough, not hearing him over all the noise. he doesn’t answer you, or if he does, you still can’t hear him.

you guys arrive at the diner, you quickly putting your hair up in a ponytail after that windy drive here. “what did you say?”

“me? I didn’t say anything.” he walks ahead of you, hinting to you that he was done with this hectic conversation.

you followed closely behind as the host shows you two to your table before leaving you two alone. your waiter eventually comes back to get your drink orders and quickly leaves.

“wanna go on an adventure after this?” you raise an eyebrow at his suggestion.

“what type of adventure?”

he puts his finger up to his lips, before smiling a devilish smile.

“it’s a secret.”

“you always know how to reel me in, huh?” you joke before your drinks arrive and you two place your meal orders.

you take a sip of your lemonade while jaemin sips his soda, wishing it was your blood instead, before setting both of his elbows on the table, staring straight at you.

“since you interrogated me, it would be fair for me to do the same to you, right?”

“…likewise.”

you swear you can see his eyes slightly change color as he leans in closer to you. “so, y/n,” he draws out every syllable of your name. “why do you keep on ogling me late at night, when you should probably be doing your work?”

“I zone out quite often trying to focus on classwork, which coincidentally seems to be in your direction, as you’re always outside.”

he raises one eyebrow, taking a sip of his drink before continuing. “oh, so you’re an eavesdropper, then?”

you open your mouth to respond but the waiter interrupts you by setting your meals down onto the table. “saved by the light..” you mumble under your breath and you can see jaemin snap his head up at you. he couldn’t have heard you, right?

you shrug it off as you take your time eating your meal, the two of you having small talk about random things that pop up in both of your heads.

it’s calm for around five to ten minutes and you guys debate on whose gonna pay the bill.

“my treat. you just tutored me for around two hours and even came with me for dinner.” you slap your credit card down on the table, surprised to see that jaemin has beat you to it.

“no, I insist. although I’ve done quite a bit for you, I don’t think you should repay the favor just yet.”

“what do you mean by just yet?” he avoids your question as the waiter swoops in at just the unfortunate time, plucking jaemin’s credit card out of his hand. jaemin peeks at you and sees you defeatedly putting your credit card back in your wallet.

the waiter comes back promptly and jaemin signs the bottom of the receipt before the two of you head out of the diner. you two hop in the car once again, you getting ready to drive back home when jaemin stops you with an: “wait.”

“yes?” you turn towards him, waiting. he shoves his phone in your face, your vision blurry as you grab his phone from his hands. it was directions for somewhere. where? you didn’t know.

you look back at him again, a questioning looks in your eyes, telling him to ‘explain this.’

“it’s where I like to hang out when my friends don’t come over. I was thinking that could be our adventure for tonight.”

you glanced back at him, expecting him to be staring back at you, but instead, he was looking in the opposite direction, awkwardly scratching his neck.

“as long as I’m not bitten alive by mosquitos, count me in.” you rev the engine, handing his phone back to him so he can give you directions.

“that won’t be the only thing biting you tonight.”

“hmm? did you say something?”

“nope!” he chirps.

poor boy. you still couldn’t hear him, so you assumed it was nothing important. if so, he would probably just share whatever it was to you later.

the two of you arrive at a plain field, plastered with all kinds of flowers as you two wade through them, using jaemin’s jacket as a sacrifice to not sit on the ground.

you lie down on his jacket, gazing up at the night sky full of shining stars. certain ones seemed to sparkle when you peered at them, pointing out them to the boy beside you.

there’s a comfortable silence settled between the both of you, just taking your time to admire your surroundings and enjoy your teenage life for a little bit longer.

you can see him turn to you out of your peripheral, but you don’t tear your gaze away from the sky as you feel him scoot closer to you.

“y/n?”

“yeah?” you’re still not facing him.

he sighs. “my family and I moved here because of the neighborhood we resided in. it was terrible, for both my family and I’s health. we never felt welcomed there, and everyone who lived there was very cryptic. it freaked us out so much that we just left.”

you blink, absorbing his words. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that. are you at least having a fortunate time here, though?”

“because of you, yeah.”

you choke on nothing at his blunt statement.

“that was… cheesy, but understandable. now, I’ve been dying to ask you something.”

he quirks an eyebrow. “and what is that?”

you gulp, his eyes now trained on your neck. “why do your eyes flash a dark red occasionally?”

“I―“

he’s interrupted by some rustling heard in the distance, the two of you immediately getting up. he hurriedly grabs his jacket and tugs you back to your car.

the drive back to his house is silent, you parking in his driveway and him getting out and walking towards your side.

“want me to tutor you again on Friday?”

you smile. “as long as it includes an adventure.”

he sends you a genuine smile for once. not a smirk or grin, but a real smile. “goodnight y/n, and sweet dreams.”

you chuckle. “night, jaemin.”

you don’t hear from jaemin the next day, which was odd. he also didn’t show up for study hall, which may have slightly bummed you out (which you would never admit to the boy, as he would be relentless with his teasing later).

you had expected him to be at school on Friday, the day of your tutoring and your supposed adventure with him, but you were dead wrong.

you send him a text as you’re lounging in your bedroom, which consisted of: “jaem, where are you?”

you lie on your bed for a few more minutes, checking your phone to realize that he still hasn’t texted you back. you groan in frustration as you toss off your shorts and pull on your jeans, practically running out of your house.

you count three houses down from your right, finally settling on his house and taking large strides to reach it. once you do, you press your finger to the doorbell, hearing shuffling inside the house in front of you.

you stand awkwardly for a few more moments until the door opens wide in front of you, revealing a tall, brunette lady, which you assume to be his mother, and a black cat looking at you curiously from behind her. “yes?”

“oh!” you squeak out. “I’m a friend of na jaemin. I was wondering if you knew where he was?”

she looks right through you, seeming uninterested. “ah, jaemin. he hasn’t been feeling well the past few days. I will go and get him for you.”

you open your mouth to speak, but she slams the door in your face, making you sink down as you hear her heels clinking away from the door.

she makes you flinch when she opens the door again a few minutes later, a sinister grin on her face when she sees your reaction. “he’s not here at the moment. he’s probably wandering around like always.”

your expression falters. “ah, okay. thank you anyway.”

“welcome,” she mutters. “and if you see him, tell him to get back home.”

“will do.”

she sends you a small smile before closing the door, leaving you standing like an idiot. you swivel around, walking down their driveway until a lightbulb lights up in your head.

“the adventure we went on! he told me that that was his favorite spot.” you mumble before running back to your house, hopping into your car and starting the engine.

you speedily head towards his hideout, somehow remembering the directions he showed you a few nights ago.

your music is blasting as you arrive, promptly taking your key out of the ignition and locking the doors before moving towards the top of the hill, where you two shared a magical moment.

“jaemin!’ you call out, seeing something freeze in the distance. you start towards it, a bounce in your step as you hoped it would be the said boy. as you get closer, you can faintly see a tuft of short dark brown hair, already accepting it as jaemin.

“jaemin?” you whisper, and he snaps his head up at you like he did at the diner, but this time, he had a crazed look in his eyes as he licked the dark liquid from his lips. you’re trembling at the sight of him, blood all over his mouth and dripping down his neck, his shiny fangs poking out, nearly piercing his upper lip. there’s an animal in his hands, you presume dead, and his eyes are turning a darker red the longer he gazes at you.

you scream as he drops the dead bunny and starts to stalk after you, your fight or flight response kicking in as you sprint away from him, looking straight ahead and not making the mistake all the protagonists do in horror movies, which was to look behind themselves while running away from a murderer.

however, jaemin’s too fast for your tiny legs as he eventually catches up to you, you now tripping on nothing as he stumbles over you, breaking his fall with his hands.

you two are now face-to-face, a drop of blood landing on your cheek as he stares deeply into your eyes. you bring your hand up, making him flinch before you start to wipe away at the blood messily smeared on his mouth.

“y-y/n… I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, I―“

you press your finger to his mouth, shutting him up instantly. “you obviously had your own reasons for not telling me.” you pause, using your other hand to cup his cheek, his breath hitching in the process. “I was worried about you, jaemin.”

“w-worried? aren’t you afraid of me?”

“jaem, you didn’t show up to school for two days. I had no idea what was going on, and this, this is all a tremendous shock to me.”

you feel something else hit your check, but instead of blood, it’s jaemin’s tears this time.

“I-I never wanted to hurt you, so I held myself back every day when I met you… and now, n-now you know what I am… just a creature of the night, wanting nothing more than to suck people’s blood and survive like we were born to do…”

you gaze into his sincere eyes and cautiously wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him into an embrace. he stills, slowly reciprocating the hug.

“I love you, you know.”

he chuckles into your neck, inhaling your scent. “I know. I’ve known ever since that night.” he buries his head further into your neck, relishing at the fact that you’re so close to him.

“c-can I?” he stutters, and you laugh.

“yes, jaem. you can.”

he takes a deep breath. “okay.” he breathes out, before opening his mouth wide and piercing into your neck. you wince, uncomfortable at the sensation of your blood flowing out of your neck freely. he only takes a few gulps though, before wiping your neck clean and helping you up, eventually giving you a piggyback ride.

“well, then. ready for another adventure?”

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ellipsesarefun · 4 years

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no. 15 “[Mama/Papa] got you.” For NejiTen please :)

A/N: Been awhile since I’ve written anything for this fandom... NejiTen has been the very first ship I’ve ever sailed... and will continue to sail. I’ll probably redo and edit some parts when I come back to this but for now, here ya go <3

Prompt request 15 finished. 14 and 1 are my WIP. You can request for any of the pairings listed in this post.

It's a bright and sunny Saturday morning at the Team Gai training grounds.

Tenten's finished restocking supplies for her weapon's shop and Neji has no missions lined up since his recent month-long Mist Village mission so they decided to walk around the village to catch up on lost time. They happened upon their former training grounds, finding Hinata and their daughter watching Rock Lee doing his usual training. Gai sensei and Kakashi are also audiences to the scene, though are simultaneously exchanging menial gossip.

"It's a full house here." Neji mutters to himself, earning a laugh from his wife.

"You like them, anyway." She says, raising her eyebrows at him, "Besides, they were eagerly expecting your arrival." And as if to prove her point, their friends pause their chatter to greet the two. Lee still continues his push ups but raises a hand to wave at them.

Hikari wobbles towards them, her smile drawing dimples on her fair plump cheeks. Her hair is tidied in a braid similar to Hinata's but some of the little ones stick out from the spring breeze the passes by from time to time. Her little arms crush around the plush kunai toy Neji bought for her 2nd birthday. The sight squeezes Tenten's heart that tugs at a memory of a little girl, alone and no one to call home to.

Hikari stumbles, distorting the replaying memory at the forefront of her mind. Her husband rushes forward and swoops their daughter into his arms before Hikari utters a cry.

"There, there, my little moon," He shushes his child's fears with the lull of his deep voice and warm embrace, "Papa's got you." A gentle smile forms on her lips at the scene of Neji holding Hikari, the moonlit eyes of father and daughter gleaming against the morning sunlight. It paints a sacred space in her mind, something that the little girl in her memories have longed for years.

"Oi!!!" Lee cries out, still at his 125th push up, "Are you guys gonna stand there or train?"

"Lee-kun! Please pace yourself!" A worry line creases on Hinata's eyebrows. She turns to walk to the said man sweating it out in the spring heat.

"You've only just got back from the hospital a few days ago!" She adds, stopping in front of him with hands on her hips, "You can't just exert yourself immediately.."

"With the training he's had throughout the years, that's his normal speed.." Neji interjected with a roll of his eyes.

"And he's trained by me!" Gai-sensei shouts from behind them. Hinata looks at Tenten, eyes pleading, but the weapon's master merely shrugs. It's true, anyways. This is how most of their days were spent before they went off to the more dangerous and Jonin-level missions. Training for the Chuunin exams and testing out twenty different kinds of weapons were two of the major things that they were looking forward to. Aside from all the Sasuke business of course.

Hikari's smile and laughter grabs his attention again. The Hyuuga meets his forehead with hers as he whispers a lullaby from his childhood. Sometimes Tenten recalls his teenage grumpy and wonders how they ever got here.

He catches her stare with a question on his face.

"So, you wanna have a few matches with me?" Neji asks with a gesture at the empty area of the training grounds, "One on one?" His lips curve into a smirk.

The Weapons's Master summons her staff from her scroll and smirks back, saying, "Sure! Don't hold back. Got a few tricks up my sleeve."

The Hyuuga raises an eyebrow at her staff and then at her, unimpressed, "With just that?"

"Babe, please." Tenten readies her bo staff, "This little thing is just warm up." The quest for unique weaponry is a never-ending one. She has batch of new ones she found to try on her husband.

Neji narrows his eyes at her and assumes into his Hyuuga stance. If there's one thing she knows he learned, it's to never underestimate her.

"Go Mama and Papa!" The cheer from their daughter brings a smile on Tenten's face. They charge towards each other, Tenten spinning her staff expertly as they do. The weapon collides against his arm and they both fall into rhythm. It was a dance they've fallen into over and over again. It wasn't exactly the same dance but the evolution of it as a result from the obstacles they've triumphed in their lives.

Their adventures never ended, merely starting through another chapter. She didn't think she could ever find her niche as a ninja but now she travels around the world mastering the art of weaponry on missions. She never had a family of her own, but they found her, anyways.

Somehow the things in her life, and the people around her, will only continue to keep growing and expanding and for once she is at peace.. because even when there will be more challenges in her way, she knows that there is a growing family behind her to come home to.

The Weapons Master twirls and aims the blunt end of the staff at his head. The Hyuuga slips and knocks the staff of her hands. The staff flies above him and explodes from the bomb Tenten planted earlier. The smoke clouds over the two of them but Tenten is already moving towards him with swords in each hand. She jumps with a flip and falls with her leg outstretched for a kick.

Tenten smirks. It's a bright and sunny Saturday to beat her husband's ass to the ground.

#NejiTen #Naruto #Neji Hyuuga #Tenten #writing practice #ellipsesarefun writes

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genius11rare · 3 years

Text

Chit Chat 111620 11-16-20

Chitchat 111620 with Jack Michael Jeremys Chair and the disembodied voice of alfredo (no he left after set up immediately , never heard him) id put “keep reading” if i knew how for this sorry

Jack: hi im jack with my friends michael and Spearow the dragon (jeremys not here , theres a spyro … pillow i think on his chair).. So we made the mistake of doing 2 minecrafts backtoback and it ended like 20 minutes ago then like “oh yeah we have other stuff we need to set up before”… Michael: yeah this isnt so much a chitchat it is just a chit not really time for a chat. Jack: how about we chit about recapping extralife? It went really well thank you everyone who watched and contributed, trying to get chat up right now…. Cuz we got Chit trying to get the Chat as well… this is the 4th year in a row we raised over 1 million$ , and were having some auctions for charity. Up for auction: 3D printed gen lock heads , pictures of the Spooky Hour (Gen Notes i thought they were done with that?) , the jon risinger bob ross segment painting , some f*face hats , some wood and glass sculptures (jeremy comes back during around this) … and gratz to jeremy for urinating and coming back *on time* Jeremy: hey my bathroom is a few steps from here… that whole time was spent peeing Oooohhhh better. Jack: michael , jeremy got anything to say about whats happened recently. Michael: no uh…. Just recovering… Jeremy: oh that was hard to watch michael. Jack: oh i have this picture i posted on twitter of fiona milking gavin…. Spraying milk into his eyes , sounds weird when i phrase it like that see if i can post it. Fiona somehow got both eyes in one shot , none in the mouth (the goal) just eyes. If you don't know the context it looks like hes spraying milk from his head like some kind of anime demon… then the paintballs happened…. Usually with paintballs theyve been going a while and theyve calmed down , that time it was new compressors and we JUST started using them for michael and gavin (Michael: “they” as in the paintballs themselves , theyve calmed down) yeah so that time they still had a lot of OOMPF and it was like getting kicked in the head over and over. Michael: no that's good , kick me in the head all you want. I went second just so i could tell how bad it hurt , so i knew where to hit gavin to make it hurt the most… immediately flipped on it like “he doesnt deserve this” and shot the face (which hurt the least) as much to spare him… i did do a few tummy shots but still. Jack: the crotch was also a good spot cuz of the cockblocker… problem is if you missed they go left or right into your thigh Michael: the thigh and stomach hurt the most … our thighs are black Jeremy: were also doing the vinyl Jack: oh yeah we reached our goal and putting AH the musical on a vinyl , plus a new song with Fiona ive been working with her trying to get the tone and everything (Gen notes im gonna guess its there so Still in the Air isnt…) … Jeremy wanna say what you offered up? Jeremy: yeah were doing the AH rap version 2 (Gen notes either A. a version with the rest of “The B Team” to have verses , or B. redoing it without HIM) , been working on a beat for it … ive written one verse mine so far (Gen notes , think its option B then) but i feel like its a little TOO mean so i may dial it back down a bit … the plan is shorter verses but more people , so hopefully Myself , michael gavin , Jack , Fiona , the twins , Matt , Lindsay and MAYBE a verse where the support room jump in one bar at a time , still in the works. Jack: yeah you guys DEMOLISHED goals, chads daughter she is so sweet… she saved up chore money and wanted to donate it all of her own , she wasn't convinced to she just wanted to donate 20$ which just broke everyone - well chad and i , caiti held it together, so we asked the audience to match her 20$... over the course of 10 minutes that 20$ became 65000$... we broke extralife we legit broke their intake of donations. We also had 2 people there who if we needed to hand something to someone wed give it to them , theyd “baptize” it as covid precaution then give it to whoever. Michael: except cloth they were like “you touch cloth you own it” … was like i could walk away with a lot of things right here , this towel? This towels done (Jack: you just going around grabbing curtains) … (start paraphrasing) we always want extralife to be like the best show ever cuz its for a good cause , but then this year we were like “how would we even pull it off”... i don't think 2020 extralife couldve gone better given everything (end paraphrasing) “fave extralife 2020 moment” Jack: my thing… Chad James is a freaking beast and towards the end the last segment we did was called the sweet and sour hour where caiti would do something nice and chad would get punished … it ended up getting stacked so we started doing some at once. At one point Chad is on the pummelhorse which is an elastic band that hits you in the undercarriage , chelsea was there with a leg wax remover , then we had cody from code 4 which is our compliance officer with hand sanitizer. So Blaine pummelhorses chad , chelsea leg waxes him and then cody sprays him with the antiseptic (michael: in his eyes… Gen Notes i mean hes probably kidding but idk it seems possible) … chads on the pummelhorse weeping and Blaines ALREADY spinning the wheel. Michael: its funny , theres so much stuff that happened and not just the segments i was there for , but a simple delight getting chad to eat that whole pickle … he was just saying “i cant do it ill throw up” and i just kept repeating “youu can dooooo iit...”... gave me some enjoyment since i was there basically to get slapped around , but in between i made chad eat a pickle Jack: so jeremy you have a fave moment? I know you were there for the solo stream section - oh i forgot about DJ JAAWNK how could i that was a blast Jeremy: yeah i was listening to most of the solo streamer section , i know Kdin had a thing where she gathered a bunch of people to do among us and it was fun…. For a certain donation amount they would just launch john mace into space , theyd just call a meeting and get him… Matt joined me playing spyro and i had the Gold Chonky spyro mods on , and if people donated enough wed spin a wheel that me or him would have to do.. We had to spin it like 15 times , and alot of them were “have to hold the controller upsidedown” which is a monstrosity… and twice it was me put a blindfold on and matt would have to direct me through the level. I panicked A LOT cuz you could HEAR the enemies shooting at and coming at you but i didn't know where … it was like a live Matt and Jeremy do something - your welcome sarah! (Michael: you did do something… Spearow… Spearowmint gum) so first were doing SPiderman Miles Morales PS4 edition cuz i don't have a PS5! Everyones talking about how they're sold out so the most ive done was when i was shopping for ovens i was like “lemme peruse the playstation aisle” didn't see one and went guess im not getting one… Jack: are they even selling them in person or is it just online… Michael: i know game stop is selling them , they're sold out but i know they were selling them.... Think most stores waiting for black friday to get them in store… i want one but im not going to a store on black friday , ill play fall guys if i want to get trampled Jack: oh yeah someone mentioned the ChungeScwa heist is coming we reached that goal Michael: fiona said i could be there, i asked can i help and she said something like “plz help , cuz otherwise it wont happen.” ive also offered doing a 50 turn mario party even though it wasn't a goal cuz we didn't even do last years so now wed owe 2 for 2021 assuming we can make that happen. Jack: cant you do a 100 turn mario party is that a thing? Michael: no 50 is the most , ive contemplated maybe we combine them into one game and scores carry over but it might be upsetting if im ahead by 9 stars after 50 turns and then it just becomes a 4 hour victory lap so its probably better to do 2 of them… we were about to do one in april we were planning on shooting it in april but then SOMETHING came up idk what it was … it just kept coming up for 7 months… Jeremy: and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming… oh if were going to show my PS4 screen lemme show how much a loser i am…. Jack: you got a platinum in bug snax?!?!? Jeremy: yuuuppppp!!!

#gen notes #for later #text #backed up #chit chat #AH #achievement hunter #jeremy dooley #ah jeremy #index #my post #november 2020 #idk what else to tag #keep reading #well would if could #chitchat

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letmetellyouaboutmyfeels · 4 years

Note

Sometimes I can't help but think that I would absolutely love to be a part of a Pride and Prejudice remake with you at the helm of it. I wanna see what your vision for it would be.

Awww thank you darling, that fills me with delight. I admit I haven’t given a ton of thought to a remake since I love the 2005 version so much, and I feel like at this point every Austen book has gotten a worthy adaptation (the 2009 Emma, 1995 Sense & Sensibility, pick either of the Persuasions they’re both amazing, Love & Friendship was an excellent adaptation of Lady Susan...) and I feel like at this point it would just be playing it safe to redo Austen again instead of writing a whole new Regency-era romance.

However.

If someone said, “hey Mads we need you to redo P&P,” I am not going to say no, because we really, really, really need an Austen adaptation that isn’t fucking white.

Part of my problem with the 2020 Emma is that we’re doing yet another Austen adaptation, when we already have a decent one from the ‘90s, and an amazing one from 2009 as a miniseries, I mean, it was really unnecessary in my opinion. So if you’re going to insist on doing another Emma... why the FUCK did you make it all white AGAIN. We’ve SEEN white Austen heroines fall in love over and over, where the hell is my Claudia Doumit or Letitia Wright as Emma? Where’s my Oscar Isaac as Mr. Knightley? Hmmm? HMMMM?

So anyway if I was going to helm a P&P adaptation I would be casting it with people of color (John Cho would be in there but I’m torn on him as Bingley or Darcy, God, he’d be great at both, why must you be so talented sir) and I would probably choose to adapt it with a modern sensibility lens.

That is - there are a lot of things about Regency times that people simply don’t translate into modern times. There’s a lack of modern sympathy and understanding for conventions and situations of the times. I feel like a lot of people dismiss things or don’t realize the implications of something, or they want to adapt it to make it “sexier” or more “modern” without realizing that the sexy and modern is already there.

For example, a lot of people get down on Austen for the whole “Lizzie likes Darcy after seeing Pemberley” bit. They see it as Lizzie being impressed by his wealth, when what really happens is Lizzie sees that Darcy’s servants love him. It’s like if Lizzie walked into Darcy’s office building at the company he owns and asked his secretary, his coworkers, his receptionist, how he treats them. And they all said, “oh my God he’s the best boss ever, I really love working for him, he gives us paid sick days and lots of vacation time and is always understanding about mental health.”

That’s why Lizzie starts to like him. She realizes that she herself was prejudiced and proud, and that Darcy is a kind and responsible man who looks after those in his care. Austen repeatedly tells us in her work that marrying a man because he’s charming is not the way to go. You can’t survive on ‘charming’. You survive on responsibility, on respect, on common sense. Austen’s heroes are all charming in their own way, I mean, my God, “I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death.” That is charming as FUCK, who the hell gave you the right, Wentworth. Henry Tilney is arguably Austen’s most traditionally charming hero, affable and friendly and witty.

But Austen was well acquainted with financial ruin and fear of homelessness and poverty, and she was also well acquainted with the fact that a woman was controlled by her husband. So picking a man who charmed you wasn’t enough. You had to pick a man (if you could) who respected you. Who listened to you. Who was compassionate and thoughtful. Lizzie, in going to Pemberley, sees that she can trust Darcy. He will take care of her and he will respect her.

That’s why she falls for him. Not because he has a big fancy house. If Lizzie was the type to be impressed with wealth she would’ve been impressed by Lady Catherine de Bourgh the way everyone else is, but she’s not, she thinks the lady’s a fucking tosser and stands up to her and doesn’t care how much money or wealth either of them have.

And frankly, I think that’s something we can still find relevant in our modern times. In our capitalist society where we are obsessed with wealth, with celebrities - not just artists or royalty but influencers, people like the Kardashians who do fucking nothing to earn praise or loyalty. They just sit around and exist while looking pretty and being rich. WTF. And people are impressed by it. People are impressed by charming boys who know how to wink and flirt and women still settle for men who yeah, sure, won’t hit you or cheat on you but also won’t do any housework or make dinner or help raise the kids.

I think that if Austen were writing P&P today, she would have Lizzie visit Darcy’s offices and see how he treats his workers. She would notice him being kind to waiters and leaving a large tip. She’d go to a party at the Bingleys and see him in the kitchen doing dishes to help clean up. She’d visit his house and assume he had a housekeeper since it’s clean and neat or that his sister does the chores only to learn that no, Darcy cleans the damn house himself, and wants Georgiana to focus on her university studies. Austen would show us a man who carries his own weight and respects those who are “under” him. A man who doesn’t take advantage of his wealth or privilege.

A lot of recent takes on Austen want to make it for a modern audience so they have ‘darker’ shit going on like cheating and sex and abuse etc. And I get it, some people want that. But there’s kind of this nose-thumbing at Austen implying she was sanitized and all that and frankly I like having a goddamn story that doesn’t include the ‘dark side’ of Regency society like I get it, it wasn’t perfect, but my God, Sanditon, could you shut the fuck up?

I want to give credit to the serious stuff that Austen already put into her story. If you’re reading her stuff thinking “oh this isn’t serious/realistic enough, I want more thrills and drama,” then first of all you’re in the wrong genre and second of all you’re not reading her stuff properly. Stop throwing in drama to make it appealing to modern audiences, guys, it’s already in there!

So yeah. I haven’t thought to myself, oh I want to redo P&P and this is how, but if I were to see any new Austen adaptation, that’s what I want to see. I want to see people of color, and I want to see the adaptation done in a way so that the audience is able to realize just how little things have changed and how similar our needs and societal rules were back then, and I want them to fucking respect Austen because she is my girl and she fucking knew what she was talking about.

EDIT, SINCE I THINK THERE’S SOME CONFUSION:

I am not talking about a modern-day adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. I am talking about an adaptation set in Regency times, in that historical setting, but with a cast of color and with an awareness of modern-day audience sensibilities and the modern lens and showcasing that many of our modern-day values and issues were the same in Regency times. Or at least the same to Austen, and something Austen noticed and commented on.

For example, Wickham is a predator. He’s not just an asshole marrying women for money, he preys on younger girls. He preyed on Georgiana and then on Lydia. Part of why he stopped talking to Lizzie was she was too smart for him and would’ve figured him out. And Austen points this out in Lizzie’s horror. It’s part of why Lizzie’s so angry with her father and how she realizes her father isn’t perfect either - his apathy about Lydia led to Lydia not being raised to recognize danger signs.

There are still men like Wickham out there today. They’re the men who only date teenagers or women half their age. Wickham arguably went after Georgiana for her money but he went after Lydia for her youth, because unlike the older Lizzie, Lydia was too young to realize what Wickham was. That is still relevant to us today and is still something we’re concerned about today, and it can and should be shown through a historical lens.

We shouldn’t have to change the setting to a modern one to get people to figure out how fucking brilliant Austen was. I want it in Regency times, showcasing to a modern audience what is already in the book.

#mads answers things #well this got long #whoopsies #handlewithcharacter

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ifishouldvanish · 5 years

Text

Editing tips, I guess?

Hey uhhhhh, so I've gotten lots of new followers over the past few weeks and wanted to do some kind of thank you?? Also, I have seen a fair share of "omg HOW" in the tags on my edits (which??? always make my day?? my week??? my life????)

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my ~techniques with y'all? So here goes:

(lmao this got really fuckin long so cuuuuuut)

1. Make EVERYTHING a Smart Object

Okay, maybe not EVERYTHING, but seriously. Do it. It will save ur editing life. You ever shrink something down and then an hour later change your mind and decide you want it bigger? If you're not using a smart object, it’ll get blurry when you scale it back up and you’ll be fuCKED!

To make a layer/group a smart object, just right click on it in the layers panel and select "convert to smart object". This makes Photoshop store the layer's original data in a separate space for safe keeping (an embedded .psb file, to be exact) -- so you can shrink it and enlarge it as many times as you want without any lossiness.

As soon as I paste/place a screencap, texture, or whatever into my document, the first thing I always, ALWAYS do is convert it to a smart object!!

Why, you might ask?? Continue to item No.2 :)))

2. Harness the POWER of Smart Objects!!

The reason I am obsessed with Smart Objects is because I am obsessed with making any edits as non-destructive as possible. If you use “Image > Adjustments > Levels/Selective Color/etc” on a regular layer, that’s a destructive edit. Same goes for any Filters (such as blur/sharpen) and transforms (Warp, distort, perspective). You lose the original data that was there and the only way it can be undone is with ctrl+z. Might not seem like a huge deal at first, but if you keep chugging along for an hour and decide, “hmm, maybe i went too hard on that levels adjustment after all...” your only options are deleting the layer and starting over, or uh... hoping it’s still in your history panel.

However, it's really easy to avoid destructive edits when you use smart objects!! Because all those adjustments, filters, and transforms become “Smart Filters”. Smart Filters have all the non-destructive advantages of performing these adjustments via adjustment layers, but have the added bonus of ONLY effecting the layer they’ve been applied to, instead of cascading down and effecting all the layers beneath. (Which can be a good thing sometimes, but that’s a whole other topic)

Smart filters are attached to their ‘parent layers’, and can be hidden, deleted, or modified (by double-clicking their names) at any time:

Can I hear a wahoo???

Other cool things about Smart Objects:

You can copy a Smart Filter with all its settings to another layer by alt+click+dragging it over

You can change the order in which Smart Filters are applied by clicking and dragging them around

You can edit a smart object independently/in a sort of 'isolated' mode by double-clicking on its thumbnail!! I like to use this for edits that are specific to a given screencap-- like cutting out the background and any initial adjustments, like levels and selective coloring. Once you’re done editing the contents of the smart object, hit ctrl+s and it will automatically update in the main document!

But really, the biggest thing for me here is psychological. I know I’m much more willing to try things and experiment when I know that I can easily go back and tweaks things at any time. Otherwise, I’d stick with adjustments I don’t really like all that much simply because it would take too much time/effort to redo them.

3. Don't even THINK ABOUT using the eraser tool or I will STOMP YOU to death with my hooves!!

Use a layer mask instead. Please I am begging you. It all comes back to making your edits as non-destructive as possible. If you erase something, it's gone forever. When you mask something, you can make changes to which parts are visible/not visible as often as you want.

For the newbies or the otherwise unacquainted, a mask is a greyscale ‘map’ attached to a layer (or layer group) that controls its opacity. Black areas give the layer 0% opacity, white areas will give it 100% opacity, and you can use shades of grey to achieve partial transparency. You ‘draw’ on these layers with the your trusty brush and paint bucket tools.

You can create a mask by selecting a layer and then clicking the little mask icon at the bottom of the layers panel (it’s the one with the little circle inside the box). Draw black on the parts you want to hide, and if you erase too much on accident? Just paint back over it with white!

I love masks, and sometimes i will throw an already masked layer inside a layer group and apply a second mask to said group. This way I have two masks that can be edited independently from each other. Like layer mask-ception.

So anyway, yes. Eraser tool? Don’t know her.

4. Try using channels to create masks!

This is a technique that works REALLY well for cutting out complex shapes, such as wispy hair (or feathers!) -- provided there's strong contrast between the subject and the background, and the background isn't too busy.

This is also a fantastic method for capturing alpha transparency. For example: If you have a neato paint stroke/splatter/watercolor texture you want to use as a mask, but has a solid background that’s getting in the way of things. This method will capture all the semi-opaque areas flawlessly!!

While editing your image (which you had better have made into a Smart Object!!!) do the following:

Switch from the "layers" panel to the "Channels" panel.

Toggle through the R, G, and B channels, and decide which one has the most contrast for the areas you are trying to mask.

Ctrl+Click that channel's thumbnail. This will create a selection marquee.

Switch back to the layers panel

Click on the target layer/group (the one you are trying to mask)

Click the mask icon at the bottom of the panel (the one with the circle inside a box)

Release the selection and invert the mask if necessary

If you're using this method to cut out a subject from its background, you probably won't want alpha transparency. In this case, select the mask thumbnail and use a levels adjustment on the mask itself to bump the contrast until you have more of a cutout effect!

It sounds like a lot of steps, but it’s really simple! So I made this handy GIF: (click to view from beginning)

Sometimes you won’t want to use this method for the entire image, but just a specific part. For example, if you’ve cut out a character with some other method (magic wand, manual brushwork), but are having a hard time with their hair in particular. Use this method to create the selection, but instead of converting the whole selection into a mask, use the brush tool to apply the mask only where you need it! You can invert the selection itself with shift+ctrl+i.

5. Outlining text

The font I used here is Salomé, which is actually a solid typeface with no outlined version. But you can make virtually any font into an outlined version if you so desire!

There's two possible methods here, actually:

The Easy Way:

Add a stroke layer effect to the text layer (by selecting the layer, clicking the little “fx” button at the bottom of the layers panel, and choosing “Stroke...”)

As far as settings go, aligning the stroke to the inside usually yields the best result/maintains the integrity of the letterforms.

Make the color of the text itself match the background.

If necessary, use the lighten/darken blend modes to create the illusion of transparency.

If you need true transparency (which I didn't until I decided I wanted to apply a gradient over the text), you'll have to try something else-- The Also Easy But Less Than Ideal Way:

Right click the text layer in the layers panel and select "convert to shape".

Now you can edit the fill/stroke the same way you would any other vector shape.

Again, you’ll want to set the stroke alignment to ‘inside’. For vector shapes, those settings are a little hidden. You’ll wanna open up that little dropdown in the toolbar with the line in it, and click “More Options”.

This is semi-destructive, so if you're working with a lot of text you might have to edit later, consider duplicating and hiding those text layers first so you'll have a 'backup' of it.

And while I’m on the topic of text...

6. Try breaking up your text layers!

I know a lot of people like to draw a neat little text box to put their text in, and then they center it all nice and neat and probably use a small font size to make it subtle and stuff... and that’s cool. Everyone’s got their different styles and things they like to emphasize in their edits and there’s absolutely merit to that sort of thing (case and point: the bulk of my dear @herzdieb’s work), but. Listen.

I love typography. I love a good typeface. The stroke widths, the letterforms, the ligatures, the serifs... I get like, horny on main for a good typeface. I like to make the text on my edits BIG, so that those details can shine. I also like doing interesting things with the text. Jumbling words/letters around, distorting them, deconstructing them and just... letting the text really ~interact with the rest of the composition instead of just kinda politely floating on top of it.

I’m not saying you have to do that kinda stuff. Or that I think neat little floaty text boxes are boring, or lazy, or whatever. It’s just... personally, I get really inspired by type. Fun type treatments are one of those things I LIVE FOR, something of a ~signature of mine, and I encourage everyone to just... try it? To use text as more of an integral Design Element and less of a... idk. A caption?

So if you have a quote, or even just a word... put each word (or letter) on its own text layer. And then: make ‘em different sizes. Make the words so big they don’t fit on the canvas. Rotate each one at a fun angle. Scatter them around. Go nuts. Use masks to chop parts of the letterforms off. Make ‘em overlap. Just have at it. Or, as the kids these days are saying: go absolutely fuckin feral.

If that really just isn’t your style, or doesn’t work/make sense for the edit you’re doing, fine. Delete all the layers and just do a text box or whatever. But. I’m tellin u.

Give it a try.

At least once.

Just... a lil taste.

7. Understand the difference between lighten/darken vs screen/multiply

For a while in my photoshoppin' youth, my understanding of these blend modes basically amounted to "darken makes things darker, and multiply makes things really darker", and vice versa for lighten/screen. But there's an important difference between how these blend modes work, and if you understand them, you can use them more... strategically? I guess?

Darken and Lighten are kinda misnomers tbh, because they technically don't really darken or lighten anything. What they actually do is make it so that only the areas of the layer that are darker or lighter than the content of the layers beneath them are visible. This produces some pretty nifty layering effects that you can't achieve with screen and multiply.

Here’s an example: (if you’re reading this on a phone with the brightness dimmed down you probably won’t be able to see the differences)

Without any the texture applied, you can really see the noise/graininess of Crowley’s jacket in the screencap. You can also see the ‘seam’ where Crowley fades into the background-- the jacket is a green-ish black, while the background it’s fading into is more of a purple-black.

With the texture set to ‘Screen’, the whole image becomes lighter across the board. Crowley’s jacket gets lighter, and so does Aziraphale’s jacket and the pink cloud thing. This does little to nothing to obscure the poor image quality and disguise that ‘seam’.

But with the ‘Lighten’ blend mode, ONLY the dark parts of the image appear lightened, and not only do they appear lightened, but they get kinda equalized. Notice how the patchy jpeg artifacts on Crowley’s jacket disappear, how that color seam smooths out, and how the brightness of Aziraphale’s jacket and the pink cloud doesn’t change at all.

This isn’t to say that lighten/darken are better and that you shouldn’t use screen/multiply. They each have their uses. But most often, I find myself using lighten/darken because the way they work is honestly really helpful? And just cool af?

8. Masking individual frames on gifs

If you ever feel like torturing yourself by making a gif that has frame-by-frame masking, my advice is don't try to mask each frame from scratch. You'll get patchy/wobbly results from the masks being slightly different on each frame.

Instead, mask the first frame, then alt+click and drag that mask onto the next frame. Make any minor adjustments to the new mask as needed, and repeat for each frame. This saves time and more importantly, keeps the masking consistent on areas with little to no movement, which makes a HUGE difference in how smooth the final product will be.

If you look at the edges of the animation, they’re nice and steady and consistent. It’s only the parts that have a lot of movement (like the back of his neck) where you can see any ‘ghosting’/wobbly-ness happening.

Sometimes the mask will move when I copy it to the next frame. Like, for the whole document. It gets nudged 20 pixels down or to the left or s/t every time. I have yet to figure out why, but I’m betting it has something to do with shooting myself in the foot with the frame 1 propagation settings at some point during editing?? ANYWAY, when this happens, just unlock the mask from its layer (click the little chain icon between their thumbnails) and move it back into place.

In these cases, I also like to pick a spot with a hard edge (such as the shoulder in the above gif) as a reference point of where it needs to be moved to. It kinda sucks having to do this for every frame, but you already signed up for some suckage when u decided to mask every frame of a gif, so I mean... 👀

9. Don't be afraid/too intimidated to do manips as needed!

Manips can be tricky if you're really striving for realism. There's light sources and color grading and perspectives to reconcile!! But when you're doing an artsy Edit with a capital E, odds are those kinds of discrepancies will be thoroughly camouflaged by all the levels, black and white, etc adjustments you're doing!

Something I run into often is, "I like this screencap, but the top of their head/hair is chopped off :(" But if I go back through all the screencaps from the scene, there's usually another frame where the camera is planned/zoomed out enough that I can steal the rest of their head/limb from it! And since it's from the same scene/shot, the lighting and color grading should already be a perfect match!

A super simple example:

So I wanted to use this picture of David and Michael for this edit, but 1) They’re standing on the wrong sides for their characters, and 2) part of David’s arm is covered up by Michael’s.

Of course, the easiest course of action would be to just mirror the photo so they’re on the correct sides, but 1) mirroring faces tends to yield wonky results, and 2) that still wouldn’t give me a perfect, free-standing cutout of Crowley to place wherever I want in my composition (as opposed to being forced to awkwardly position him off the edge of the canvas to hide the fact that the other arm is missing)

Fortunately, it only took all of like, two (2) minutes to draw a crude selection around his good arm, copy and paste it into a new layer, flip it around, and add any necessary masking to get the shape right.

My point here isn’t to teach y’all how to do manips, or to pass this off as an impressive example of one. Because it’s really, REALLY not. My point here is to demonstrate that even something as tiny and simple as this can really open up your options for what you can actually do with an edit/composition.

So next time you’re feeling limited/inconvenienced by the crop of a screencap, just... you know. Consider whether or not it’s worth attempting a quick and dirty manip to fix it.

Another Example:

Sometimes you’re torn between two screencaps. You like one element from Screencap A but also want some other element from Screencap B. What to do? Just frankenstein ‘em together. Layer one on top of the other, get them lined up, and mask out the necessary parts.

It’s easy to get hung up on stuff like “Uh... should Crowley’s shoulder be doing that?” but let me assure you that like... the people looking at the final product are none the wiser to your butcherwork and will not notice. Especially if you’re going to add a bunch of contrast and color adjustments later on. (in fact, sometimes I’ll apply those adjustments first so I’m not distracted by any discrepancies that are going to come out in the wash anyway)

“I dunno... 🤔🤔 doesn’t seem anatomically correct... 🤔🤔🤔🤔” thought no one.

Point is... point is... dolphins you can get away with a LOT more than you think you can. Don’t let the desire to make these kinds of manips perfect get in the way of just... making them good enough. The bar isn’t that high, I promise.

10. Know what inspires you

What types of edits get you EXCITED? What kind of work do you see on your dash and go, "oh, I'm reblobbin' THAT!!1!"

I know for herzdieb, she's all about emotional pieces. She likes matching words/lyrics/poetry to on-screen moments and punching you in the feels with both. She hears a song, or reads a poem, and the lightbulbs go off for her, and she does her thing.

As for myself, I just live for the aesthetics of an edit. The colors, the fonts, the composition. I almost never know what text/screencaps I'm going to use when I start an edit. I just see a font I like, or a color palette, or a texture, and think, "I wanna use that!"

And once you know what inspires you, collect that inspo! I hoard textures and fonts. I have them organized into neat lil folders. When I wanna make an edit, that’s where I start. I just browse through them all until one or two start calling my name. Herzdieb collects songs and quotes and poems. Maybe your thing is color palettes, or aesthetic-y photos. Or whatever.

The point here is make the kinda stuff you like/want to see. Not the kinda stuff everyone else is making or the kinda stuff you notice gets the most notes.

11. Be able to let go of things that aren't working

I often begin an edit with a rough idea of the style, colors, or layout I'm going for. And I almost always end up doing... something totally different.

So don't get too fixated on what your initial ideas are. Be open to experimenting and just let the edit be what it wants to be. If something looks nice, do it. If it doesn't, don't try to force it just because, "well, I was inspired by this piece that did xyz and I wanna try it too".

When you see a certain effect that inspires you, just keep it in mind as a possible solution for the next time you make something-- don't make it into a benchmark, or some imaginary 'goal' you have to meet for This Edit You Are Working On Right This Moment. In fact, sometimes the elements I end up ditching are the very ones I started with, that initially sparked my inspiration. And that's okay. Inspiration can be a moving target, and if your vision for something changes, let it.

You wanna know what inspo reference I was looking at when I started that “Temptation Accomplished” edit?

Fucking this: https://search.muz.li/YTdiNjkwN2Rh

You might be thinking, “how the fUCK was that the inspiration??!! Your edit looks nothing like that at all!” ...and you would be 100% correct, and that is 100% my point. I spent a good hour or two trying to incorporate that cutout text layering effect before finally accepting the fact that it just wasn’t working for the edit I was making. And it wasn’t until then that it actually started to come together.

12. Be patient, and take the time to explore all your options!

I’m not gonna lie, y’all. I spend hours on my edits. I usually complete them over the course of 2-3 days/sittings. I rarely have a plan. 99% of the time I'm just throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. When I get stuck (when, not if), it helps to step away from it and come back later with a fresh perspective/set of eyes.

Every single edit I've posted, I have at some point felt like giving up on because I thought it looked like garbage (and not just because I was being self-deprecating/doubting myself, but because at those points, they simply weren't finished/something about the composition just wasn't working for me)

Work through those moments, and if necessary, take a break/sleep on it. It's always after I've exhausted my early ideas that the really good ones start to come to mind!

Here’s how the character poster edits I did progressed:

In Classic Me™ Fashion, I literally started off with just... textures I liked, and a font that I liked. Now, there were obviously a lot more ‘steps’ involved in both designs, but hopefully at the very least this gives a sense of how things get from point A to point B.

So uh... thanks 4 comin 2 my TED talk. I hope u learned at least one (1) cool new thing or maybe just feel vaguely inspired by this rambling mess?

#idk what to tag this...#photoshop #i guess?#tutorial #maybe?#w/e

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